Blood shortages are still a serious issue. Even in countries such as the United States where you might not expect it to be. There are different reasons why there are blood shortages. In the U.S. for example, O negative blood is usually given in emergency situations, so when an O negative needs a transfusion, there often is an unreasonably long waiting time. And in South East Asian countries for example, we are dealing with rh negative frequencies so low, that finding an O negative donor (in some places, O negative blood is as infrequent as 1 in 1,000) takes so long that the patient has already died when help arrives.
What can we do about it?
You don’t have to be a regular blood donor in order to save lives.
Especially in countries where the percentage of rh negative people is very low, rh negatives tend to be stand-by donors.
As a stand-by donor, you make yourself available for whenever someone with a rare blood type such as yours needs blood from someone like you. There are two major reasons I can think of why being a stand-by donor makes sense:
1) When you are a regular blood donor, your rare blood may be given to someone who has a more common blood type. Usually rh positive people have it easy getting a blood donor as O positive blood tends to be most common in most places.
2) If you donate on a regular basis, you may not be eligible to donate to someone with a rare blood type depending on someone like you.
If you or someone you know are ever in need of an rh negative blood donation remember this link:
Rh Negatives on WhatsApp
There are quite a few groups of rh negatives worldwide and many of their leaders are present in our WhatsApp group. Feel free to join if you like to connect and be available to help if an rh negative person somewhere near you needs help.