(VOVworld) – Nearly 1 percent of Vietnamese population voluntarily donated blood last year. The figure was released at a national conference in Hanoi on Friday to review 3-year blood donation campaign and work out future plans.

Blood donation campaign in Da nang city (Source: danang.gov.vn)

According to the National Steering Board for Voluntary Blood Donation, from 2008 to 2011, the program received more than 690,000 liters of blood. Vu Dinh Vinh from the National Steering Board talked about plans to overcome blood shortage for medical treatment in the next 3 years: "We will continue to raise people’s awareness about the benefits of voluntary blood donation and safe blood transfusion. It is necessary to set up groups of volunteers and communicators at all levels and adopt incentives for them".

Vietnam now has 12 regional and local blood transfusion centers.