Dr Sheila Campbell-Forrester, chief medical officer, said by way of this competition, the minister of health and environment, in partnering with the National Blood Transfusion Service, is seeking to promote the habit of voluntary blood donation among persons aged 18 and older.

Targeting young people

"In targeting young people, we are trying to have a consistent source of blood donors," said Campbell-Forrester during the launch at the Ministry of Health and Environment's offices.

"These persons are in the prime of their lives and are often the ones free of physical ailment, so this will make them able to donate regularly," said Campbell-Forrester

The objective of the competition is to organise a blood drive throughout 20 schools islandwide with the target of collecting 2,000 units of blood.

Since the six decades that the Blood Bank has been in existence, there has been a constant struggle to meet the national demand for blood, with only approximately 25 to 50 per cent of the need being filled.

"The shortage of blood is the main purpose of us being here at this launch. The purpose is to increase the quantity if we are going to reach the 50,000 units that we really need per year," Campbell-Forrester said.

She further stated that recruiting young persons was a way of increasing the pool of voluntary donors.

Dr Ernest Pate, country representative in Jamaica for the Pan American Health Organisation, said the shortage of blood was severely undermining critical care in the health sector.

"Persons have to delay surgery because of the shortage of blood and when one person gives blood, it is used for more than one individual because the content is separated," Pate said.

The new campaign

He commended the new campaign, remarking that three-quarters of the persons involved in traffic crashes were young people.

The competition will end with schools awarded in various categories.

The Champion's Trophy and a gift certificate will be awarded to the overall champion, while there will be a trophy and computer for first-place winners in each county, and a plaque and book vouchers will go to the top recruiter in each county.