Healthy and of age
Anyone who wants to donate must be healthy, 18 years or older and weigh at least 50 kilograms. However, first-time donors must not be older than 60 years and repeat donors must not be older than 68 years. Anyone over the age of 60 or 68 can donate blood if a doctor decides on an individual basis.
do good for others
So far, blood cannot be produced artificially. Millions of Germans depend on donations from their fellow human beings: after accidentsat The operationin the Krebstherapie.
The fact that so much blood is needed is primarily due to medical advances – apart from stockpiling for disasters: many operations and transplants that require blood transfusions were previously not feasible. In addition, Germans are getting older and are more at risk of developing cancer as they get older. Preparations based on donated blood are an important part of cancer therapy.
© Stiftung Warentest
do good for yourself
Bluthochdruck gegensteuern. Anyone who donates is also doing something good for themselves. Research by the Berlin Charité has found that high blood pressure levels can drop over the course of several blood donations. This can support high blood pressure therapy. Bloodletting is useful for people with certain diseases who have too much iron in their blood or too many red blood cells.
Gesundheits-Check inklusive. Before each blood donation, a small routine health check is carried out: measuring blood pressure, hemoglobin and temperature. After the donation, the blood is tested for infectious diseases such as hepatitis B and hepatitis C or HI viruses. This gives the donor the assurance that the blood is free of such pathogens.
know blood group. After the first donation there is the Blutspendeausweis. The blood group of the donor is also noted in this. If you always carry your ID card with you, you can get help more quickly in an emergency.
Here’s a healthy way to donate
drink a lot Drinking plenty of fluids before and after the donation helps to prevent and compensate for the loss of fluids. Best: Water or unsweetened tea.
rest. Plan about an hour for the preliminary discussion and donation. The actual donation takes five to ten minutes. Then you should give your body half an hour of rest to recover.
Enjoy your meal. Eating before and after the donation stabilizes the circulation. Iron-rich foods are good, such as egg yolks, lentils and millet, oatmeal in muesli or meat such as beef liver.
carry passport. Every first-time donor receives a passport, blood group and Rhesus factor are noted there. There should be a minimum of 56 days between two whole blood donations.
Not everyone can donate blood
Those who are not allowed to donate regulate the Guideline Hemotherapy. It was last updated in 2021. The list of exclusion criteria is long. Some people may donate permanently, while others may not donate temporarily.
Permanently excluded are diabetics who take insulin, HIV infected or people who Malaria have or had.
Temporarily excluded According to the guidelines of the German Medical Association, are also “persons with sexual behavior that poses a significantly higher risk of transmission of blood-borne serious infectious diseases than the general population […] entails”. You may not donate blood or plasma again until four months after your last sex. This group of people includes: Sexarbeiterinnen and sex workers as well as People with frequently changing sexual partners. The return period of four months also applies to homosexual men having a new or more than one sex partner. Critical voices, such as the Lesbian and Gay Associationpoint out that other countries are more open and consider the German regulation to be discriminatory.
Also who tattooed or pierced has to wait four months. pregnant women and breastfeeding are not allowed to donate. Also who one Sniffles is sent home – and is allowed to come back after a week. All of this is asked about in a preliminary talk with a doctor and the donor questionnaire.