The American Red Cross encourages communities to stay ready and donate blood or blood platelets if they can during September's National Preparedness Month. The organization is experiencing a national blood emergency following Hurricane Debby and other severe weather events. 

Doctors have coined a term to describe places where blood for transfusions is not readily available: "blood deserts." When blood banks aren't around, they try different strategies to help patients.

While the number of people eligible to donate blood has expanded, the agency says it will continue to monitor the safety of the blood supply.

Long criticized as discriminatory, the policy has prevented many gay and bisexual men from donating blood. The Food and Drug Administration revealed a draft of its new approach on Friday.

Donors through The Red Cross typically give a pint of blood which can then be broken down into its individual components -- platelets, plasma and red blood cells.

The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to a 62% drop in blood drives at schools and colleges, according to the American Red Cross.

The shift in health policy in most of the U.K. reverses a decades-old rule that limited donor eligibility on perceived risks of contracting HIV/AIDs and other sexually transmitted infections.

"Donors will no longer be asked to declare if they have had sex with another man, making the criteria for blood donation gender neutral and more inclusive," the National Health Service explains.