First Aid Society commits to SDG 3 through blood donation campaign

The First Aid Society continues to bring awareness of the importance of blood donation, with another successful Blood Donation Campaign, organised from 14 to 17 November 2023, at UTAR Kampar Campus. More than 350 bags of blood were collected and delivered to Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun Ipoh.

The Blood Donation Campaign is organised at the beginning of each trimester by the First Aid Society, as also part of their effort to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: Good Health and Well-being, which falls under the umbrella of People, Dignity, and Justice, outlined by the United Nations. SDG 3 aims to ensure that everyone has access to health and well-being at every stage of life. It takes into account all of the top health concerns, such as access to safe, effective, high-quality, and reasonably priced medications and vaccinations for everyone, as well as, reproductive, maternal, and child health, including, communicable, non-communicable, and environmental diseases. This goal also encourages more research and development, increases health financing, and strengthens the capacity of all countries in health risk reduction and management.

To encourage wide support, the organising committee and helpers were awarded UTAR CARE points and USSDC points. The campaign saw the committed efforts of all involved in assisting the medical staff of Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun Ipoh when the blood donation process began. For a successful blood donation, a donor must weigh at least 45 kilograms and pass the required medical evaluation, which involves checking the blood type, blood oxygen level, and blood concentration. The medical evaluation is deemed necessary for ensuring that the blood donors are found fit to donate their blood, as to avoid any hazards towards the donors. For this reason, donors who have donated their blood were also required to take a short rest before resuming their daily activities to ensure they are feeling well.

Led by Qiao Wen and Yi Vern, who were the Chair Department, the campaign received much positive feedback. Helpers involved also commented that they gained valuable experience and found the opportunity to make new friends. They also acquired new knowledge and honed their teamwork skills. They further learnt about event planning and enhanced problem-solving skills.

They commented, “While carrying out the event, we discovered that planning an event is challenging. Therefore, organising the Blood Donation Campaign required extra work on our part. We wanted to convey the value of health and wellbeing during the blood drive in the context of the safe and developing nation of today. We made an effort to show how the public supports and influences good health and wellbeing throughout the event’s planning process. The First Aid Society will continuously create effective campaign methods to encourage all forms of well-being and health. As members of the First Aid Society, we will continue to uphold the importance of donating blood and the benefits of organ donation, so that more and more people will get engaged in saving lives, thus lessening grief and suffering worldwide.”

UTAR Care Programme, which is often referred to as UTAR Community and Voluntary Engagement Programme is used to promote, cultivate, and acknowledge students’ participation and efforts in community/volunteering projects. The goal is to motivate students to engage in volunteer work and community outreach initiatives. Increasing the level of community service participation will have several beneficial effects, including improvements in students’ behaviour, values, degree goals, and job readiness. As they develop greater empathy for others, more positive views toward themselves, and higher levels of internalised moral norms, the students who take part in these community service activities will also demonstrate improvement in educational elements. To honour students' accomplishments and attempts to better themselves in the areas of communication, leadership, teamwork, strategic thinking, creativity, and commitment to integrity, the UTAR Soft Skills Development Certificate (USSDC) was developed. It entails experience learning during instruction, engagement, and extracurricular activities. The goal of this curriculum is to inspire students to pursue comprehensive self-development, build self-discipline and integrity, foster creativity and entrepreneurial spirit, and become future leaders who are open-minded and have a global perspective. The training courses and extracurricular activities offered by the USSDC encourage students to improve both their own lives and the lives of others. The blood donation campaign’s committee members will gain points in the areas of emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence, and teamwork, as well as leadership skills, while all of the campaign’s volunteers will hit a ball in the areas of lifelong learning and information management.