Brasília, July 7, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - A seminar in Brasília on Voluntary Blood Donation, organized by the National Health Inspection Agency (Anvisa) and the World Health Organization (WHO), is primarily intended to train specialists to recruit blood donors. The Ministry of Health's goal is to turn 2% of the Brazilian population into blood donors by the end of this year. The seminar's workshops will end on July 9.

Besides training promulgators, the Ministry of Health, which is sponsoring the seminar, is planning educational campaigns to raise awareness on behalf of periodic and spontaneous blood donations, to increase the number of blood donors and guarantee the quantity of blood necessary to meet the country's demand, as well as to improve the quality of the material that is collected - blood, blood components, and blood derivatives.

During 2003, the campaign will seek to achieve the following goals: 2% of the population turned into blood donors (80% of them spontaneous); 30% female participation among donors; 30% participation by young people between 18 and 29 years of age; and reductions of 11.3% in clinical rejection and 8.3% in blood serum rejection.

In recent years, Brazil has established blood screening activities without precedent in South America, attracting the attention of the world scientific community. This amounts to a national blood quality program which is gradually consolidating itself, on the basis of criteria of quality, security, and responsibility. (DAS)