The XVI All-Russian Blood Service Forum and Launch of the Donor Campaign #JoinUs Held in Moscow

The annual event, organized by the FMBA of Russia, brought together over 500 participants from across the country, including leading experts, representatives of federal and regional authorities, leaders of the donor movement, and public organizations. The forum served as a platform for discussing pressing issues related to blood donation and the development of the Blood Service in Russia.

The forum was opened by Veronika Skvortsova, Head of the FMBA of Russia, who spoke about the steady positive progress of the Russian Blood Service. She emphasized that the top priority remains the unconditional and timely provision of medical facilities with donor blood components for clinical use:

«"We have placed special emphasis on increasing the minimum strategic reserve of blood and its components, ready for immediate use both in military hospitals and civilian medical institutions under various jurisdictions. This reserve now exceeds 900,000 liters of all types of blood components, which is 2.5 times greater than in 2021. We can confidently state that the system guarantees the necessary assistance to everyone in any emergency situation." ».

Greetings to the forum’s participants and guests were sent by Valentina Matviyenko, Chairwoman of the Federation Council, and Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration.The opening ceremony was attended by notable officials, including Inna Svyatenko, Deputy Chairwoman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation; Anna Tsivilyova, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation; Artyom Metelev, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy and Chairman of the Dobro.rf Association; Leonid Anatolyevich Ogul, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection; Ekaterina Priezzheva, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation; Pavel Savchuk, Chairman of the Russian Red Cross, and other distinguished guests.

As part of the forum, the RBC Events Center hosted an exhibition showcasing the best practices in donor development across regions. Participants included St. Petersburg, the Kirov Region, the Republic of Bashkortostan, the FMBA of Russia, and the state corporation «Rosatom».

One of the forum's main highlights was the launch of the All-Russian donor campaign #JoinUs. This large-scale initiative will span 89 regions of Russia and bring together universities, youth organizations, business representatives, state corporations, and government structures.

Additionally, a unique educational project, "Donor School," was announced to promote and develop blood donation in Russia. The campaign aims to attract a record number of young, active, and healthy individuals willing to join the donor movement and the Federal Bone Marrow Donor Registry.

Since September 1, 2022, following a directive from Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Federal Bone Marrow and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donor Registry has been operational, managed by the FMBA of Russia.

Currently, the registry includes over 420,000 potential donors, and this number grows daily. In 2021, the FMBA could only provide matches for 50% of patients requiring bone marrow transplants, leaving the other half dependent on international registries. Today, 78% of transplants are performed with donors from the Russian registry.

However, considering the country's multinational composition and the presence of diverse ethnic groups, the Federal Bone Marrow Donor Registry needs to expand to at least 500,000 donors.

Photos from the event are available here.