The Associazione Volontari Italiani Sangue, AVIS, or Association of Voluntary Italian Blood Donors is the major Italian
non-profit and charitable organisation for blood donation, bringing together
over a million volunteer blood donors across Italy. It is headquartered in
Lombardy, Italy.
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| The first logo |
Pre-war
In the early twentieth century, the ABO blood
group system was discovered by Austrian scientist Karl Landsteiner, and its
application in World War I led to a rise in the awareness of therapeutic blood
donation. In Italy, there were few hospitals that could provide blood
transfusions, and those that did held lists of suppliers; this closed market
allowed a high price (up to several months' wages) to be charged to patients
for a single unit of blood.
In 1927, Dr Vittorio Formentano founded the
first voluntary organisation in Italy, in Milan. Two years later, his group of
unpaid donors became the Associazione Volontari Italiani Sangue, the first
organisation of its kind in Italy.
The goals of the group were "organizing a
network of regular donors under constant medical control, to fight the blood
trade, to spread the idea that blood is a natural and anonymous gift and to
enhance scientific knowledge of transfusion practice". The organisation
developed quickly across Northern Italy, and in 1934 Il Duce, Benito Mussolini,
issued a Regio Decreto ("king's decree") asking the organisation to
add an "F" for fascista (fascist) to its acronym. The decree also
embedded blood donation into a set of administrative bodies across Italy, and
legally acknowledged the right of professional blood donors to profit from
their donations. Francesco Carnelutti, a leading scholar of the time, even
argued for the right to take blood without the donor's consent.
Post-World War II
After the collapse of the fascist government in
1946, the new Italian Republic abrogated responsibility for blood donation to
the Italian Red Cross, who were given a near-monopoly on blood donation until 1950,
when, following concerted political pressure, AVIS was re-recognised and
granted an official title (Associazione Volontari Italiani del Sangue).
Structured on a territorial basis, AVIS was
permitted to operate autonomously, and began to slowly spread a culture of
voluntary, unpaid blood donation across the country — although, even to this
day, the north of Italy has a freer attitude towards blood donation than the
south, where voluntary, free donation is only expected for a family member. By
1955, Formentano had become the president of IFBDO, the International
Federation of Blood Donor Organisations.
1967 — Collection, Preservation and
Distribution of Human Blood Act
In the 1950s and early 60s, the sale of blood
in Italy was still permitted, and due to the shortages, particularly in the
south of the country, a black market in blood trade spread. Blood was known as
"oro rosso" ("red gold").
On 14 July 1967, the Collection, Preservation
and Distribution of Human Blood Act was passed by the Italian Government. The
law regulated every aspect of the blood system in Italy, and marked the
beginning of a stream of complex regulations surrounding blood donation,
storage and transfusion in Italy — the laws specified every detail of how blood
donation could take place, down to standardising the furniture in donation
centres. The law did not, however, criminalise the paid donation of blood —
only specifying the price charged not be "manifestly exorbitant". The
right of a worker to receive a paid day off for freely donating blood, however,
was enshrined in Italian law.
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| Offcial logo |
1990 — Blood Reform Act
In 1990, following a maelstrom of media and
public pressure after a series of incidents involving Italian hemophiliacs
receiving HIV-infected blood, President Francesco Cossiga passed the Blood
Reform Act, which repealed the 1967 Act, and forced all transfusion activity,
including that of AVIS, to take place under the auspices of the Italian
National Health Service, and required all blood donations to be unpaid.
Between 1989 and 1999, AVIS had 871,779
donating members, and received 1,531,572 donations in Italy (plus 2,370
donations in Switzerland). In 1999 a total of 1,913,299 units of blood were
donated; a shortfall of around 400,000 units. Few regions of Italy (mostly in
the north) are self-sufficient in blood and plasma.
AVIS was granted the Medaglia d'oro al merito
civile (the gold medal for civil merit) on January 7, 1998.
