Statistics from the Chinese Society of Blood Transfusion show that 85 per cent of the blood used in China today is collected from donors, with the remaining 15 per cent coming from blood sellers.

"The change has been fundamental since the Chinese Blood Donation Law was implemented in 1998. Previously, donated blood only accounted for 22 per cent of the total," said Wang Yu, deputy director of the Medical Policy Office of the Ministry of Health (MOH).

"The most essential aspect of ensuring blood safety and eliminating disease transmission (of viruses such as HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis B) through blood transfusion is to ensure that 100 per cent of the blood used is collected from donors," said Wang.

This year's reports show that some provinces have already achieved this goal. For example, in central China's Henan Province, 100 per cent of the blood used is collected from donors, after hundreds of the province's citizens became HIV/AIDS victims due to a trade in diseased blood in the 1990s.

However, the voluntary blood donation rate in some big cities is still comparatively low. Take Shanghai for example, only 20.85 per cent of all the blood used in the city comes from voluntary blood donors.

Officials blame the low figure on the compulsory side of the city's blood donation system - with the Municipal Blood Donation Office requiring that companies organize blood donations among their employees.

In addition, the city also receives a large number of patients from outside Shanghai who need blood from the local supply. In 2003, such blood consumption accounted for 28 per cent of the total clinical blood use.

"Blood shortage is not just a Chinese problem, but a specific problem in China is a lack of regular donors," said Paul Strengers, Secretary General of the International Society of Blood Transfusion.

In European countries, many regular donors have given their blood from 10 to 15 times. These are the strongest and safest donors, regarding blood donation as a moral obligation. "The blood from repeat donors is safer because it's easier to understand their medical situation than that of people who only donate once," said Strengers.

However, statistics from the MOH show that, to date, less than 5,000 Chinese have donated blood 20 times or more, despite a national population of 1.3 billion.

"Some provinces have explored ways of building a regular blood donation team, organized by the blood donation centre. This has been seen as an effective approach to dealing with seasonal blood shortages or crises such as the SARS outbreak last year," Wang added.

Since 2002, the Central Government has invested a total of 1.25 billion yuan (US$150.78 million), with another 1 billion yuan (US$120.63 million) from local municipal governments, in rebuilding the blood collection and management system.

"Central collecting and screening the blood is more effective today and better able to guarantee blood quality by controlling diseases transmission," said Wang.