Campaign to encourage more blood donors begins

Organisations including Lidl, Glanbia and Irish Rail are dropping the letters A, B and O from their logos as part of a new publicity campaign to encourage more blood donors.

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) says the number of new donors attending clinics across the country fell by a fifth between 2010 and 2015, with a quarter fewer people aged 18 to 35 donating blood last year compared with 2010.

The #MissingType campaign will run through August, and the aim of the initiative is to make people aware of their own blood type and whether it is particularly in demand.

The IBTS is also asking people to share social media posts with the letters A, B and O missing in order to further raise awareness of the ongoing shortage.

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The campaign is also supported by the Rose of Tralee Festival, which takes place this week.

“People rarely think about whether their blood type is A, B or O – many of us don’t even know our own blood type. But if that ‘type’ was to go missing in everyday life, people would start to pay closer attention to the need for blood,” said IBTS operations director Paul McKinney.

Anyone thinking of donating blood can find their nearest clinic at giveblood.ie.