It all began in Zimbabwe in 1989 when a pilot programme was introduced to retain young blood donors. The concept rapidly spread to other parts of Africa (South Africa, Togo, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana) and across the world to the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Haiti and elsewhere.
And we now have "International Club 25, one world…one blood" linking young blood donors together from all countries! But remember, membership may also embrace young people who cannot donate blood but choose to volunteer their services to the overall aims of the Club 25 Programme.

A Great Story!
More than ten years ago in two blood centres in Zimbabwe (Harare and Masvingo), a pilot programme was introduced to retain a pool of young regular blood donors. Entitled “Pledge 25” the strategy involved the setting up of donor clubs, targeting young people just leaving school. The pledge required members to commit to making 25 donations after leaving school and each club had a patron who had donated blood more than 100 times to serve as a model for the members.
Peer support became a crucial element as the clubs helped young people talk about their experiences and to discuss issues related to healthy lifestyles. Members were given educational materials and the promotion of safe blood donation and healthy lifestyles was soon finding its way into the whole community.

A Growing Concept!
The concept rapidly gained a foothold in Zimbabwe and has spread to other parts of Africa (South Africa, Togo, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, etc) and across the world to include the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Haiti, Singapore and elsewhere

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