Every year, blood transfusions save millions of lives, but still millions of patients needing transfusion do not have access to safe blood because of insufficient donations. Among the countries suffering this problem is China, where insufficient amounts of donated blood continue being a problem despite efforts to raise people's awareness about this need.
The problem in China will be solved not only when technical issues are addressed, but when people's cultural beliefs are also taken into consideration.
In spite of the fact that China's Blood Donation Law was enacted in 1998, encouraging all citizens between the age of 18 and 55 to donate blood, only 84 out of 10,000 people donate blood in China. This is far below the 454 people out of every 10,000 people who donate blood in high-income countries.