Celebrating donors, protecting recipients
Each June, individuals and organizations from around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day to promote voluntary blood donations and celebrate those who give blood regularly.
As a global leader in blood safety, Roche works to reduce the risk of exposing patients to transfusion-transmissible infections by emphasizing the importance of screening and providing best-in-class solutions that keep the blood supply safe.
Infectious diseases represent a major cause of death worldwide. Every year, 1.45 million people die of viral hepatitis1 and in 2014, 1.2 million died of AIDS-related causes.2 Following the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Zika became the latest virus to raise significant public health concern.
Blood-borne and thus capable of being transmitted via blood transfusion, it was suspected that the Zika virus had infected an estimated 80,000 people in Puerto Rico by February 2016.3 A public health emergency was declared and local blood collection was suspended.
Since April 2016, more than 2.9 million blood donations have been screened for Zika virus, and over 400 of those donations have tested positive and been removed from the blood supply.4
With 108 million blood donations collected globally every year,5 the safety of the blood supply is paramount. Proper screening dramatically reduces the risk of exposing patients to transfusion-transmissible infections.
Roche’s commitment to developing fast, accurate and high-volume testing technologies helps ensure safe blood donations, even in the context of infectious disease outbreaks, and contributes to saving lives worldwide.
Roche Blood Safety Solutions
Learn about Roche’s market-leading instruments, assays, IT solutions and automation developed to help screening centers achieve maximum safety and efficiency.
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