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his photographic project studies the industry of blood and the strong need for blood related products from patients with acute leukemia, lymphoma or in need of a bone marrow transplant
The work aims to highlight the widespread need for blood donation. A blood donation occurs when a healthy person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions or made into medications by a process called fractionation. In the developed world, most blood donors are unpaid volunteers who give blood for a community supply. In poorer countries, established supplies are limited and donors usually give blood when family or friends need a transfusion. Many donors donate as an act of charity, but some are paid and in some cases there are incentives other than money such as paid time off from work. A donor can also have blood drawn for their own future use. Donating is relatively safe, but some donors have bruising where the needle is inserted or may feel faint. The World Health Organization set a goal in 1997 for all blood donations to come from unpaid volunteer donors, but as of 2006, only 49 of 124 countries surveyed had established this as a standard. Some Plasmapheresis donors in the United States are still paid for donations. A few countries rely on paid donors to maintain an adequate supply. Some countries, such as Tanzania, have made great strides in moving towards this standard, with 20 percent of donors in 2005 being unpaid volunteers and 80 percent in 2007, but 68 of 124 countries surveyed by WHO had made little or no progress.
In some countries like Brazil, it is illegal to receive any compensation, monetary or otherwise, for the donation of blood or other human tissues. In patients prone to iron overload, blood donation prevents the accumulation of toxic quantities. Blood banks in the United States must label the blood if it is from a therapeutic donor, so most do not accept donations from donors with any blood disease. Others, such as the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, accept blood from donors with hemochromatosis. It is a genetic disorder that does not affect the safety of the blood. Donating blood may reduce the risk of heart disease for men, but the link has not been firmly established. In Italy, blood donors receive the donation day as a paid holiday from work. Other incentives are sometimes added by employers, usually time off for the purposes of donating. Blood centers will also sometimes add incentives such as assurances that donors would have priority during shortages, free T-shirts or other small trinkets (e.g., first aid kits, windshield scrapers, pens, etc.), or other programs such as prize drawings for donors and rewards for organizers of successful drives. Most allogeneic blood donors donate as an act of charity and do not expect to receive any direct benefit from the donation.
The pictures are taken at the Giannina Gaslini International Children’s Hospital in Genova, Italy