Key findings
- Over the ten‑year period 2005 – 2014, there were approximately 12.5 million blood donations in Australia with an average of 1.2 million donations per year. Although there has been a decrease in the total number of donations since 2009, the trend over the last ten years shows a significant increase (p= 0.01).
- Total blood donations in 2014 declined by 3.7% (representing 48,939 less donations) compared to 2013 reflecting both a reduced clinical demand for red cells leading to fewer whole blood collections, and continued expansion of automated plasma collections to meet an increasing demand for some plasma products, principally intravenous immunoglobulin
- In 2014, a total of 153 blood donors were detected as having a transfusion transmissible infection for which screening is in place, namely, (hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), human T‑cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV), or active syphilis). In the ten‑year period 2005 – 2014, a total of 2,255 transfusion transmissible infection‑positive donors have been detected. In 2014, no donor had more than one transfusion‑transmissible infection.
- In 2014, the prevalence of transfusion‑transmissible infections was substantially lower among first‑time blood donors (13 to 35 times) compared with national prevalence estimates.
