U.S. Embassy Community Gives Gift of Life at Tet Blood Drive in Hanoi

“Seeing Americans and Vietnamese – many of our staff, their families, and our regular visitors of the American Center – come together to donate blood and ‘Give a Tet Gift of Life’ is very inspiring.  This year the United States and Vietnam celebrate 25 years of diplomatic relations, and I believe today’s event demonstrates our shared commitment to build lasting people-to-people ties at every level,” stated Deputy Chief of Mission McClelland.

Delegates at the opening ceremony of the blood donation drive

A key goal of the blood drive is to recognize the Vietnam National Blood Program’s accomplishment of increasing Vietnam’s blood supply, especially through voluntary donors and support successful efforts in educating the population on the importance of voluntary donation.

Since the National Blood Program launched 2001, Vietnam has shown great progress in increasing its percentage of blood supply from voluntary donors, and the U.S. Embassy is proud to support National Blood Program during a holiday season that routinely faces a decrease in donors.  The donated blood is used to save lives of trauma victims, surgical patients, and patients with life-threatening blood diseases.

Local people also participate in the blood donation

“Blood drives like this also increase awareness regarding the importance of having a consistent supply of blood, and the critical role volunteer blood donors can play,” noted U.S. Embassy Medical Officer Shawn Lockett.

The U.S. Embassy’s blood drive has consistently seen growth in the number of donors since the first event in 2012 with a total of 269 donors at this year’s blood drive.

Reported by Thu Nguyen