Despite a steady increase in total blood collections and voluntary non-remunerated blood donors, China continues to have many challenges with its blood donation system. The country's donation rate remains low at 9%o, with over 60% of donors being first-time donors. Generally there is a lack of adequate public awareness about blood donation. The conservative donor selection criteria, the relatively long donation interval, and the small donation volume have further limited blood supply. To ensure a sufficient and safe blood supply that meets the increasing clinical need for blood products, there is an urgent need to strengthen the country's blood donor management. This comprehensive effort should include educating and motivating more individuals especially from the rural areas to be involved in blood donation, developing rational and evidence-based selection criteria for donor eligibility, designing a donor follow-up mechanism to encourage more future donations, assessing the current donor testing strategy, improving donor service and care, building regional and national shared donor deferral database, and enhancing the transparency of the blood donation system to gain more trust from the general public. The purpose of the review is to provide an overview of the key process of and challenges with the blood donor management system in China.
Keywords: Blood donors; Blood supply; China.