With pubs reopening this month, the National Citizen Service and the NHS have joined forces to encourage teenagers aged 16 and over to sign up to donate their first pint – of blood.

The NCS and NHS Blood and Transport’s My First Pint initiative aims to help meet the need for 135,000 new blood donors a year and is specifically calling on young people to ensure a mix of ethnicity and blood groups.

For example, an additional 40,000 black donors are needed however only 1.5% of blood donors are currently black but are ten times more likely than white people to have an important Ro blood subtype for treating sickle cell diseases.

Read Full Article