Blood-giving marathon reaches over 9,000 donations

The blood-giving marathon in Catalonia reached 9,156 donations in one week.

Ending on Friday evening, it did not achieve the aim of 10,000 donations marked by the Catalan Blood and Tissue Bank, but it did contribute to provide medical centers with blood for seven days in a row, two more than before the campaign kicked off.

In 2018, almost 9,400 people took part in the initiative, and the authorities blame the flu for the slight decrease in donations this year.

On Thursday the new outbreak of the flu was declared, meaning that no person suffering from this illness can donate blood until healed.

The blood bank also blamed the cold temperatures for the figures and call for people continue donating in the coming days.

Campaign focused on young people

One out of five people taking part in the campaign were new donors, and one out of three were aged under 35.

This year's campaign above all hoped to attract young people, with the aim that they will spread the word about the Blood Marathon on social media. As a result, in this campaign people were encouraged to get involved and become 'sangfluencers' or 'bloodfluencers.'

Apart from the main hospitals in the country, the public could also donate for the first two days of the campaign in Barcelona's iconic modernist building La Casa de les Punxes.