:: DONORWEB >> News Article ::

MEN in Singapore, it seems, are more willing to shed blood than women.

To redress this, the Singapore Red Cross Society is calling on nurses to give blood this month as part of a drive to increase the number of female donors.

At present, just three in 10 blood donors are women, and the society wants to increase this figure to half of all people who give blood by 2006. The Singapore Nurses' Association is backing the drive.

'Nursing is a predominantly female profession,' said Miss Susie Kong, the association's president. 'There are about 16,000 nurses practising in Singapore, with 85 per cent being women.

'We would like to encourage this big group...to help the community.'

Throughout this month, nurses who give blood at the Health Sciences Authority building on Outram Road will get a goodie bag and be entered for a lucky draw as a gesture of appreciation for helping to meet the nation's monthly target of 5,410 pints of blood.