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# A reminder to donate blood
- URL: https://larrysalibra.com/a-reminder-to-donate-blood/
- Published: 2026-09-03T15:52:17.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-03T15:52:17.000Z
- Author: Larry Salibra
- Tags: health, hong kong, day-56, daily

I donated blood yesterday at the Hong Kong Red Cross in Causeway Bay. I've donated blood on and off throughout my years in Hong Kong, largely because it's a fun, feel-good activity to do with friends. It has all the positive mental health benefits of a volunteer activity, and unlike many volunteer activities, you actually directly contribute to saving lives. All you have to do is get jabbed by a needle. Did I mention there are free drinks and snacks?

Hong Kong being a pretty small and relatively homogeneous place leads to some interesting issues with the blood supply. The blood supply seems very volatile. Everyone decides to donate blood around the same time...usually when some sort of high-visibility accident occurs like the Tai Po fire. This causes the Red Cross blood transfusion service to be overwhelmed with way too many people and way too much supply. But in normal times, people are all very busy (time is money!) and forget to donate blood and then supplies fall and they struggle to keep adequate supplies on hand.

Hong Kong's homogeneity means that Rh-negative blood is always in high demand because it is very rare in the local ethnic Chinese population: only 1 in 370 have Rh-negative blood. For Caucasians like me, roughly 1 in 7 people have Rh-negative blood.

Since blood supplies are low right now, they were giving out free branded water flasks as souvenirs. In addition to that, there was a second "gift" for Rh-negative donors like myself. If you're in Hong Kong, give the gift of life and go donate!

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/2026/09/hkbloodlevels.jpg)