How can I donate blood in France – is it easy to do?

Reader Question: I am planning to move to France from the US at the end of the year to retire. I have given blood for many years in America at blood drives and want to continue doing so in France. How does giving blood work?

Giving blood is a common, voluntary activity in France. 

If you want to donate blood, you have to fulfill certain requirements (see below) and usually make an appointment at a local donation centre. 

These come in the form of fixed donation centres (maison du don) and hospitals in large urban centres, or smaller mobile collection centres that operate sporadically in more rural areas. 

These mobile collections take place at varying times throughout the year, roughly once per month.

You can find a map of permanent and mobile donation centres through the Don de sang (give blood) website. 

You can put in your postcode to show nearby locations, as well as dates you are available, but note in rural areas putting in dates may limit your options. 

Note that you need to make an appointment in advance, and that spaces can be limited. 

‘Blood drives’ as such, where one-off community events are organised in a bid to find as many donors as possible, are not common but one-off collections are sometimes held in city-centre locations.

Check you are eligible to donate

Generally, healthy people aged between 18 and 70, weighing over 50kg can give blood. 

There is a limit of four donations per year for women and six for men and you must wait eight weeks between giving donations.

However, plasma and platelets can be donated more frequently, for the former up to 24 times in a year. 

You may have to wait longer after certain treatments or illnesses before you can give blood. 

Check the full restrictions here, available from the French government in both English and French.

People aged 60 to 70 may be required to get approval from a doctor before donating, and nobody over 71 can give blood. 

Prior to booking an appointment you can complete an online questionnaire to check you are medically eligible. This page also provides a checklist to see who is eligible to give blood. 

There are no longer any blanket restrictions on gay people giving blood in France, however people who lived in the UK for at least one year between 1980 and 1996 cannot give blood for transfusions due to the outbreak of ‘mad cow’ disease.

They can however still donate their blood for non-transfusion purposes, such as training medical staff. 

Read more about the process of giving blood in our previous article.