In June 2015, brands and street signs dropped the As, Bs and Os from their names – the letters that make up blood types – to highlight National Blood Week and the lack of blood donors. In just 10 days after launching the campaign, a record 30,000 new donors had signed up.

The award-winning effort by NHS Blood and Transplant is back – and this time, it’s global, being activated across 22 countries. Everywhere from the U.S and Australia to Brazil and Nepal is getting involved. In England, the focus is a particular need for more young blood donors and more black and Asian donors.

This year, the campaign is bringing together 25 blood services from 21 countries, covering one billion of the world’s population. Each is calling for new donors to ensure blood donation for future generations.

Between Tuesday, 16 August and 9am yesterday (Monday, 22 August), 13,000 people in England signed up as donors with NHSBT. In the seven days 9-15 August, 6,127 people signed up.

Last year in England 900,000 people gave blood at least once, and 154,000 were first-time donors, according to MHP Communications – leading the campaign.