Running for plasma donation
The Balearic Blood and Tissue Bank Foundation is organizing a charity race this Sunday at the UIB.
The Balearic Blood and Tissue Bank Foundation (BSTIB), in collaboration with the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), is organizing the first charity race to donate plasma, which will take place on Sunday, September 28, at the UIB Sports Campus football pitch. The children's races will begin at 9:30 a.m., and the 5- and 10-kilometer runs will begin at 10:20 a.m. The races will be free for all participants, who will receive a backpack and a commemorative T-shirt to wear on the day of the race.
The non-profit organization has developed this initiative with the aim of raising awareness about plasma donation through apheresis (a medical procedure that allows specific components of the blood to be separated and extracted using a machine, returning the remaining blood to the donor), a component "essential for the production of medicines," according to the BSTIB manager. The organization has been self-sufficient in the supply of blood components for fourteen years, and its goal is to become self-sufficient with the medications manufactured with plasma donated on the islands.
"To become self-sufficient in plasma, we still have a lot of work to do," says BSTIB manager Rosa Maria Tarragó. For this reason, the organization has organized the race with the aim of "inundating society with the message of donating plasma," she explains.
Race registration can be done on the Sports Maniacs website under the name 'Plasma Donation Race 2025' and closes this Thursday at midnight. Race numbers can be collected this Saturday afternoon, from 4 to 8 pm, at the BSTIB headquarters or on the day of the race at the Esport Campus.
The race will feature special metro services, free parking, entertainment, family activities on the football pitch, music, sustainable water refreshments, cloakrooms, showers, and changing rooms, among other amenities.
This activity is part of the National Strategy for Plasma Self-Sufficiency of the Ministry of Health and the Regional Ministry of Health of the Government. To launch a "call" for plasma donations, Tarragó believes that "institutional relationships with universities and society must be maintained."