The campaign, 100 litrů krve DÍKY MUNI (100 litres of blood THANKS to MUNI, link in Czech), which was organised as part of both the Masaryk University and Faculty of Medicine centenary celebrations, was launched on 23 October 2019 and ran until 28 January 2020. The last day when people could donate blood in the name of the university was the date when Masaryk University was officially founded 101 years ago.
The results exceeded the expectations of the campaign organisers, who were hoping to get to 100 litres of donated blood. “I am happy and proud that the project reached its goal. It was a fitting way for the Masaryk University Faculty of Medicine to celebrate the university centenary and I am pleased that the project gradually spilt over into a wonderful event that brought together the academic community at our university and the public,” says Martin Repko, the Dean of the MU Faculty of Medicine.
According to Natália Antalová, the project coordinator and a student at the MU Faculty of Medicine, the campaign triggered a wave of donations, with around 1,000 people interested in participating in the project: “It is almost beyond belief how many people joined in and how many eventually became donors since not all of those who were interested met the strict criteria for blood donation due to illnesses or previous trips to certain destinations abroad.”
The interest in the campaign was so great that after just a few days, the organisers decided to extend the campaign by two months and widen the scope beyond Brno. Outside the pre-arranged dates, donors could donate blood at any blood donor centre in the Czech Republic and send a certificate of the donation to Masaryk University. Most of the donors chose to donate blood at the Department of Transfusion and Tissue Medicine of the University Hospital Brno and at the Blood Bank of St. Anne’s University Hospital.
The main goal of the 100 litrů krve DÍKY MUNI campaign was to motivate new blood donors. “We were successful in attracting a large number of first-time donors, who probably outnumbered regular donors in the campaign,” says Antalová, adding that she hopes that many of them will become regular donors and that those who were initially rejected due to their current health issues will return to donate blood later on.
Since the campaign attracted so much interest and was well-received, the organisers would like to transform it into a more permanent project, and they will be working on the details of blood donor support over the coming months.