/ 23 September 2004

Beer for blood

Czechs are being offered two beers in return for their blood in an effort to recruit blood and bone-marrow donors.

Anyone donating blood as part of the ”beer for blood” campaign taking place in Prague on Friday will receive two half-litre glasses of beer in return.

”The objective is to recruit new regular blood donors and also bone-tissue donors,” said the initiative’s organiser, Jaroslav Novak, editor of a Czech beer magazine.

The campaign will be held as part of a fair dedicated to St Wenceslas at the Vystaviste exhibition ground in the north of the city. It will then travel to other parts of the country.

The Czechs are the world’s largest per-capita consumers of beer, knocking back 162 litres per person last year. — Sapa-AFP