The French Blood Establishment is calling for mobilization to replenish its blood stocks while awaiting changes to the criteria in September.

Stocks are currently " fragile," according to the French Blood Establishment. Halfway through the summer holidays, the institution is launching an appeal for donations as supplies are quickly disappearing in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.

In a press release published on July 8, the EFS indicated that France was short of 15,000 blood bags to reach a "sufficient reserve level" for the summer.

Mobile collections on the Côte d'Azur and the Var, all summer long

In the PACA region, it has been established that between Marseille, Toulon and Nice, 800 bags are needed every day to meet the demand. A third of them are used by hospitals. And faced with the shortage, notes France Bleu , the region is "obliged" to import blood bags from other regions of France.

To replenish them, the EFS has set up mobile collections, particularly in the Alpes-Maritimes and Var regions, over the next few weeks. Some will be in Cap3000 , others in Antibes , Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and Villeneuve-Loubet.

In the Var region, these collections will be held in Saint-Tropez, Roquebrune-sur-Argens, Hyères, Le Lavandou, and Ollioules. To find the dates and locations of these collections, the EFS has created a map showing their exact locations.

At the beginning of summer, the French Blood Establishment (EFS) called for increased mobilization as the summer holidays approach, but also over the long term in the face of various challenges, such as the need for plasma.

Less than 4% of French people of donor age, between 18 and 70, give blood at least once a year, "we can do better" , declared the president of the EFS, Frédéric Pacoud, during a press conference before World Blood Donor Day, on June 14.

New donation criteria in September

Faced with the growing need for plasma, this blood product, and the desire to reduce dependence in the United States on this matter, one of the objectives is to "increase the number of plasma donors by 200,000, a small mountain to climb," he said. Nearly 161,000 people have donated their plasma in 2024 (+14% over one year), knowing that a majority of plasma donations come from whole blood donations, which make it possible to obtain red blood cells, platelets and plasma.

The EFS is also seeking to attract more young people, who give less than before (-57,000 donations among 18-25 year-olds between 2020 and 2024) and their elders.

New criteria, which will apply at the beginning of September, will allow people to donate blood two months after getting a tattoo or piercing, instead of four months previously, thanks to improved screening techniques for the hepatitis C virus . This will make it easier to donate blood.