The need is
constant.
The supply depends on you.
Blood Advocacy Week exists because the nation depends on a system that must work every day, in every community, for every patient who cannot wait. The numbers make one thing clear: this is not abstract. It is immediate, human, and urgent.
This week exists because blood cannot be manufactured, paused, or postponed.
Every donation can help two or more patients. That includes people experiencing trauma, childbirth complications, major surgery, cancer, sickle cell disease, and other life-threatening conditions. The system only works when enough people show up before the crisis happens.
At the same time, demand never stops. Blood centers provided nearly 11 million red blood cell units, more than 2.6 million platelet units, and more than 3 million plasma units to U.S. hospitals in 2023 alone. This is not a once-a-year problem. It is a daily national requirement.
Blood Advocacy Week brings public awareness, coalition action, and policy engagement into one push because the consequences of low supply are felt everywhere: emergency rooms, cancer treatment, maternity care, pediatric care, and trauma response.
The issue is not awareness alone. It is availability.
About 62% of the U.S. population is old enough to donate, yet only about 3% donates each year. That gap is the reason Blood Advocacy Week exists: to close the distance between need and action.
The urgency is built into the system.
These are not edge cases. They are the reasons a strong blood supply must exist before patients need it.
Demand is constant
A transfusion happens in the U.S. every 2 seconds, and nearly 30,000 units of whole blood and red blood cells are transfused each day.
Supply depends on donors
There are roughly 212 million Americans old enough to donate, but only about 3% of the eligible population donates each year.
Blood has no substitute
Red blood cells expire within 21 to 42 days depending on collection method, and platelets last only 5 to 7 days. The system has to be constantly replenished.
When supply drops, patients feel it first.
Blood Advocacy Week exists to connect the public to the real settings where blood saves lives every day.
More than a quarter of the U.S. blood supply is used by patients battling cancer, and more than 2 million people are diagnosed with a new cancer each year.
Sickle cell disease affects about 100,000 Americans, and one in three Black or African American blood donors is a match for a sickle cell patient.
Hemorrhage is the most common cause of death within the first hour of arrival to a trauma center, and delays in whole blood transfusion increase mortality risk.
Postpartum hemorrhage requiring blood transfusion has quadrupled in the U.S. over the past 20 years, and pediatric patients used 181,000 units of red blood cells in 2023.
Only about 2% of EMS systems in the U.S. have established prehospital blood transfusion programs, even though earlier transfusion can improve survival.
The stats make the case fast.
Use these proof points to explain why the week matters and why action cannot wait.
RBC transfusions
Red blood cell transfusions occurred in the U.S. in 2023.
Platelet transfusions
Platelet transfusions occurred in the U.S. in 2023.
Cryoprecipitate transfusions
Cryoprecipitate AHF transfusions occurred in 2023.
Donor deferral rate
Presenting donors were deferred in 2023, with low hemoglobin or hematocrit the most common reason.
Get the U.S. Blood Donation Statistics and Public Messaging Guide.
Download the full guide, access the shareable graphics, and pull approved public-facing blood donation statistics from one place. This is the fastest way to turn urgency into accurate messaging.
What supporters and partners can do next.
The point of the stats is not to sit on a page. It is to sharpen public messaging, outreach, and advocacy.
Download the guide
Use the approved numbers, messaging, and definitions to make sure your outreach is accurate and consistent.
Get the guideUse the graphics
The guide includes downloadable social and print graphics so the urgency can travel further across channels.
Get graphicsTurn stats into action
Use the proof points to strengthen donation appeals, coalition messaging, earned media, and policymaker outreach.
Back to the weekBlood Advocacy Week exists because the need is constant and the solution will take all of us.
When more people understand the numbers, more people understand the stakes. That is how public attention turns into donation, partnership, and policy momentum.