Falling Hong Kong birth rate blamed for drop in first-time blood donors
But even though there was a record number of total donations, the city faces a struggle to keep up with rising medical demand
Falling birth rates and the revised secondary school structure have been blamed for the number of first-time blood donors last year dropping to a three-year low.
The chief executive and medical director of the Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, Dr Lee Cheuk-kwong, said the number of first-time donors fell 4.9 per cent to 36,993 last year.
Among them, the number of donors aged 16 – the lower age limit for blood donation in the city – dropped to 7,109, down 23.3 per cent compared with 2014 and a 28.7 per cent decrease from 2013.
But while the number of first-time donors slipped, there were a record 261,110 donations overall for blood, platelet and plasma last year, up 2.8 per cent from the 254,053 units in 2014.
Lee said the drop in first-time donors was related to falling birth rates – down from 59,300 in 1997 to 51,300 in 1999 – corresponding to young people who turned 16 in 2013 and 2015 respectively.
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The participation rate of 16-year-old donors fell from 16.8 per cent in 2013 to 13.9 per cent last year.