B Positive Choir and Lurine Cato say 'Rise up and Give Blood'

The NHS B Positive Choir and gospel sensation Lurine Cato launch Rise Up, to encourage more people to Rise Up and be counted as blood donors, as well as raise vital funds to help support the life changing work of NHS sickle cell wards.

To see B Positive perform Rise Up at the MOBO AWARDS 2017, to download the track, and for lots more about us, visit our website.

NHS Blood and Transplant and MOBO teamed up for a second year to create the 'B Positive' Campaign. B Positive is a group of 60 singers from across England who live with sickle cell disease, their families, helpers and friends. The choir was formed with the mission to create awareness of sickle cell disease and the need for more blood donors.

Choir director Colin Anderson said: “We need 200,000 new blood donors each year.

"Over the last year 900,000 people have given up their time to help patients in need. But we need more new donors.

"Every day, we need 6,000 donations to continue saving lives. We need life-saving blood from new donors of all backgrounds to provide the closest matches for all communities.

"We are particularly looking for younger people and black communities to come forward."

Lurine Cato said: “We urgently need 40,000 new black donors help people with sickle cell disease. Sickle cell is more common in black, South Asian and Minority Ethnic people. Blood from black donors provides the closest match to black people who need blood.”

MOBO CEO and Founder, Kanya King MBE said: “We are proud to be partner with NHS Blood and Transplant on the "B Positive" campaign to help recruit new donors, and use our platform to help reach a wide audience. We were honoured to be able to provide B Positive Choir with their television debut, and it's amazing to see the response they have received.”

About Blood Donation

In general, as long as you are fit and healthy, weigh over 7 stone 12 lbs (50kg) and are aged between 17 and 66 (up to 70 if you have given blood before) you should be able to give blood. If you are over 70, you need to have given blood in the last two years to continue donating. To find out more or book an appointment visit www.blood.co.uk, call 0300 123 23 23 so search for ‘NHS Give Blood’ app.

About Sickle Cell Disease

Sickle cell is more common in Black, South Asian and minority ethnic people.

Around 15,000 people in the UK have sickle cell disease. Each month hospitals in England request 3-4,000 units of red cells to treat patients with sickle cell. Some blood groups such as B positive and RO are more common in black people.