Antwerp (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The University of Antwerp launched the Bloedserieus campaign by Red Cross Flanders, aiming for 12,000 donations. Vincent Verbeecke and Aesculapia volunteers guide students, with 200 donors expected on Oct 14, 2025, at Campus Drie Eiken, Wilrijk.
As VRT News reported, the University of Antwerp has launched this year’s “Bloedserieus” (Blood Serious) campaign. The initiative is organised by Red Cross Flanders to encourage student blood donations. The organisation aims to collect 12,000 donations this year. For the current semester, they hope to reach just over half of that number.
Vincent Verbeecke, spokesperson for the Red Cross Flanders, said the turnout at Campus Drie Eiken, Wilrijk, is promising. Around 200 students are expected to donate on the first day. The Komida cafeteria is busy with students and volunteers. Verbeecke called the launch a success.
“We are currently at a low or critical level for five blood groups. Students who donate blood en masse in the coming weeks and months are therefore very welcome,”
Verbeecke adds.
What role will 200 students at Antwerp’s Wilrijk campus play in Bloedserieus?
Volunteers from Aesculapia, the University of Antwerp’s student association for Medicine, are supporting the campaign. Xavier Bogman, president of Aesculapia, said it had been several years since the Red Cross visited the Wilrijk campus. In June 2025, the student group contacted the Red Cross to revive the initiative.
“We’ve distributed flyers, hung posters, and spoken to students. Today we’re supporting the students who come to donate and providing follow-up care.”
Xavier Bogman, president of the student association Aesculapia
“As a student association, we naturally organise cantuses and TDs, but we also want to get involved and contribute. We hope to be able to continue this every semester or every year,”
says Bogman.
The Red Cross Flanders team is promoting blood donations at the University of Antwerp. In the days before the campaign, volunteers distributed flyers, put up posters, and approached students directly to encourage them to donate. On Oct 14, 2025, staff guide students through the donation process and provide aftercare. The collection takes place at the campus donor centre, located above the main campus area.
Vincent Verbeecke, spokesperson for Red Cross Flanders, said it is important to bring donation drives directly to campuses.
“We have a donor centre 500 meters from here, but it is more convenient for students to donate at school. They can come with friends during lunch. The concept is really catching on,”
he said. Students agree that on-campus donations are practical.
A veterinary student who donated for the first time said,
“You are here for classes anyway, and the Red Cross is here all day. You can come whenever it is convenient. It is my first time donating blood, and I am very glad I did.”
Student-led blood donation campaigns have a long history in Belgium. The Bloedserieus initiative began in Leuven in 1990, started by the student group LBK. It later expanded to cities including Ghent in 1992, Antwerp in 1998, and several others such as Bruges, Brussels, Diepenbeek, Kortrijk, Merelbeke, Turnhout, and Sint-Niklaas.
By 2024, the campaign reached 13 cities, with a total of 65 collections and more than 11,000 student donations. Other student-led initiatives have also taken place, such as the blood plasma donation month at the College of Europe in Bruges in March 2021, organised by the charity group Solidoares in collaboration with Red Cross Flanders.
Brussels Morning is a daily online newspaper based in Belgium. BM publishes unique and independent coverage on international and European affairs. With a Europe-wide perspective, BM covers policies and politics of the EU, significant Member State developments, and looks at the international agenda with a European perspective.
Leave a Reply