Beijing’s deflation dilemma: Falling prices signal bigger troubles ahead
When he bought an apartment near a good high school in northeast Beijing in 2020, Zhou Fujin expected that renting it out would cover most of his mortgage. But the apartment’s value and the rent he is getting have plummeted in the past couple years, straining his family’s finances.
China is experiencing a spell of deflation, or falling prices, that contrasts with inflationary pressures prevailing elsewhere in the world. Cheaper prices can be a blessing for some, but deflation is a symptom of relatively weak demand and stalling economic growth.
Such challenges are the backdrop to the annual session of China’s parliament, which begins Wednesday. It’s unclear what the ruling Communist Party might do to tackle the problem, though some economists expect Beijing to announce more government spending. Observers also will be watching for changes to the annual economic growth target, which has hovered near 5% for the past two years.
These are broad, long-term problems. Falling housing prices have left many families reluctant to spend, while factories keep churning out goods.
Economy-wide, prices fell in 2023 and 2024, the longest bout of deflation since the 1960s. The gross domestic product deflator – the broadest measure of price changes in an economy – dipped to -0.8% in the last three months of 2024, compared to -0.5% the quarter before, meaning that deflation has intensified.
Tightened purse strings
Deflation is an abstract economic concept but it reflects very concretely in Zhou’s personal balance sheet, as it does for millions of others. Zhou’s apartment, in Beijing’s Miyun district, cost 2 million yuan ($275,000) when he bought it in 2020, and he financed it with an 800,000 yuan ($110,000) bank loan. The rent he charges has fallen from 2,300 yuan ($316) monthly to 1,700 yuan ($234). His monthly mortgage payment is more than 3,000 yuan ($413), and the apartment is now worth only about 1.4 million yuan ($193,000), he says.
Around the time Zhou bought his apartment, the government began cracking down on excess borrowing by real estate developers, pushing the industry into crisis and many property companies into default. The father of two runs a real estate brokerage firm, which has been hemorrhaging money over the past four years. He has since expanded into home decoration services, helping him to break even.
“Given that I work in the real estate sector, my income has been greatly affected,” Zhou told The Associated Press. “My biggest spending is on bank mortgages, my car and my children’s education. I’ve cut other expenditures such as travel. Even my children have realized that money is not easy to earn, and they are willing to spend less.”
Lu Wanyong, who owns a picture framing workshop in Beijing, says he gets only one or two customers a day, down from more than a dozen before the pandemic. Many now prefer to fix broken picture frames rather than buy new ones. Fewer new homeowners come in looking to decorate their apartments.
Lu’s family has burned through its savings and he fears that soon he won’t be able to pay his shop’s 6,000 yuan ($825) rent.
“I am considering shifting to other industries, but the problem is that I am not familiar with any of them. And as a matter of fact, which industry is easy to work in nowadays?” he pondered.
A ‘deflationary spiral’ can signal bigger trouble ahead
Deflation can be harder for governments to tackle than inflation, experts say, because that requires fixing the underlying issues behind it.
In China’s case, it’s a combination of excess capacity – manufactured goods produced in such quantities the market cannot absorb them all – and the reluctance of consumers to spend and businesses to invest, due to concerns about the sluggish economy. Also, the housing crisis has wiped out an estimated $18 trillion of household wealth, according to a Barclays report, on top of job losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When the real estate market is booming, people believe that they are very rich,” said He-Ling Shi, an associate professor of economics at Australia’s Monash University. “If people believe that they’re rich, they tend to spend their income on consumption. But with the decrease in the price of housing in most parts of China, people believe that they’re no longer as rich as before, so … they want to increase their savings and reduce their consumption.”
When prices fall, companies’ profits also take a hit. That can spur a so-called “deflationary spiral” of layoffs that further reduce household incomes, leading to even less consumption and potentially to a recession or depression. Fitch Ratings in November warned that deflation is becoming entrenched in China and urged its leaders to adopt policies that can boost demand.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed new 20% tariffs on Chinese exports that are expected to shave up to 1.1 percentage points off China’s GDP growth this year in a “severe scenario” where Chinese exports to the U.S. fall by half, said Erica Tay, director of macro research at Maybank Investment Banking Group.
A sensitive issue for the Communist Party
Deflation is a ticklish issue for China’s leaders, who began cutting interest rates and required mortgage down-payments last fall. They have launched programs to get local governments to buy unsold apartments to rent out as affordable housing and are encouraging banks to lend more money.
But top leaders tend to focus their public comments on the ruling party’s accomplishments and avoid directly mentioning deflation, a thorny problem with no quick fixes.
“They try to do their best to avoid the word ‘deflation’ because they believe that will make consumers even more panicked,” Shi said. “If they become more panicked, they will further reduce their consumption and therefore make the situation worse.”
Some economists, including Michael Pettis, a professor of finance at Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, say the economy can only be rebalanced if consumers gain purchasing power. That requires reducing the share of wealth going into unproductive investments.
The government has sought to encourage more spending by issuing vouchers, while shying away from more fundamental economic reforms.
“Economic recovery should be linked to a rise in people’s incomes” said Sun Lijian, professor at the School of Economics at Fudan University. “The government should provide vouchers to help people purchase what they need; this has proven to be an effective way.”
Louis Kuijs, chief Asia economist for S&P Global Ratings, says China needs to address long-term, chronic problems including excess industrial production and inefficient state industries. Revamping health care, pensions and education systems would make people “more comfortable about their financial situation.”
“In the short term, simply anything that increases household incomes will help on the consumption side,” Kuijs said, “but probably more importantly is that structural reform element … and that requires beefing up of the government’s role in health, education and social security.”
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Associated Press researcher Yu Bing contributed to this story.
Shooting of Philippines pet dog with arrows sparks outrage
Animal rights activists and local residents expressed outrage after a pet dog was found critically injured with arrows embedded in its body in the Philippines.
The dog, named Tiktok, was left with injuries that would require long-term care following the attack last week in the Negros Occidental province.
Tiktok was shot with five arrows in the Murcia area of the island, BACH Project PH, a nonprofit that rescued the dog, said. The group said the dog was recovering but would require therapy to regain mobility in its left leg.
Animal rights advocates and local authorities announced a reward of $5,500 (£4,363) for information leading to the arrest of the attacker.
A suspect had been identified but not arrested, BACH Project PH said in an update on Sunday, adding that an investigation was going on.
The Philippine Animal Welfare Society said it was “horrified” by the attack. “This blatant act of cruelty cannot be ignored, and even more chilling is that Tiktok’s suffering is not an isolated incident,” it said.
“Such violence against these innocent animals is deeply disturbing and serves as a painful reminder of the ongoing devaluation of Aspin lives. Too often, Aspins are seen as easy targets to subject to cruelty, whether through slingshots, guns, or other forms of abuse.”
Aspin, native to the Philippines, is one of the most popular dog breeds in the country.
The Tiktok attack has reignited discussion on the need for stronger protections for animals in the country. Lawmakers and advocacy groups have called for amendments to existing laws to impose stricter penalties on offenders and enhance animal welfare education.
Senator Grace Poe, one of the lawmakers who have moved an amendment to the animal welfare law, demanded stricter laws to protect animals against such “barbaric acts”.
“Such cruelty to an innocent creature has no place in our civilised society,” she said. “What will stop the perpetrators from shooting humans next time? We call on the residents to help the local government unit and animal welfare groups in finding the individuals who harmed Tiktok.”
The senator said the “shocking incident” should drive the federal government to expedite the passage of the revised Animal Welfare Act.
The Animal Welfare Act of the Philippines provides for punishing anyone found guilty of animal cruelty with imprisonment and fines but activists argue that enforcement remains weak.
Murcia mayor Gerry Rojas condemned the attack on Tiktok as “barbaric” and offered legal assistance to prosecute those involved in the incident.
“Mayor Gerry M Rojas strongly condemns the recent act of abject cruelty and cowardice against an innocent dog within our community,” his office said. “He emphasizes that such barbaric behaviour is unacceptable and does not reflect the true values of Murciahanons.”
Taliban dismiss Trump claim about Chinese presence at Bagram airfield
The Taliban dismissed Donald Trump‘s claim of Chinese presence at one of the former American military bases in Afghanistan.
The US president claimed Washington was planning to return to the Bagram Air Base, a large airfield in the Parwan province of the embattled nation due to the alleged presence of Chinese troops.
He suggested the US should move to reclaim disused and demilitarised military equipment that was not brought home with departing troops during the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
“I’m the one who got our military presence to under 5,000 but we were going to keep Bagram,” Mr Trump said, “not because of Afghanistan but because of China, because the air base is exactly one hour from where China makes its nuclear missiles. So, we were going to keep Bagram.”
“Bagram airbase is one of the biggest airbases in the world. It has one of the biggest and most powerful runways. And we gave it up,” Mr Trump said, “and you know who is occupying it at the moment? China. Because Biden gave it up. So, we are going to keep that.”
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid dismissed Mr Trump’s remarks as “emotional”, and said US officials should “refrain” from making “statements based on unsubstantiated information”.
Mr Mujahid told state media outlet RTA that the airfield was “controlled by the Islamic emirate”, referring to the Taliban government, and “not China”.
“Chinese troops are not present here nor do we have any such pact with any country,” he said. “We request that Trump’s team explain to him and correct his information about Afghanistan.”
Mr Trump had claimed during his election campaign that the sprawling airfield was under the control of the People’s Liberation Army, a claim he repeated after taking office.
China previously denied that its troops were stationed at Bagram.
The Bagram airfield, located about 44km north of the capital Kabul, served as the central command for the US-led Nato military campaign for two decades before the withdrawal four years ago. It was also the US epicentre of the war to oust the Taliban and hunt down the Al Qaeda leadership held responsible for 9/11.
Mr Trump has routinely criticised the previous administration of Joe Biden for “badly handling” the American withdrawal from Afghanistan and leaving behind heavy equipment.
“We left billions, tens of billions of dollars worth of equipment behind, brand new trucks. You see them display it every year…someplace where they have a road and they drive the, you know, waving the flag and talking about America,” he said. “That’s all top of the line stuff. I think we should get a lot of that equipment back.”
Mr Trump also accused the Taliban government of selling American gear which he claimed made Afghanistan “one of the biggest sellers of military equipment in the world”.
“Can you believe it? They’re selling 777,000 rifles, 70,000 armour-plated trucks and vehicles,” he said. “This is 70,000 vehicles we had there, and we left it for them. I think we should get it back.”
The Taliban spokesperson argued that the weapons belonged to the previous Afghan government – which was backed by Nato and collapsed when the Western troops withdrew – and were considered “spoils of war”. The Taliban, he added, was using the weapons to protect the country.
The US provided $18.6bn worth of equipment to the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces between 2005 and August 2021, according to a Pentagon report.
The $7bn worth of equipment that was left behind during the 2021 withdrawal included aircraft, air-to-ground bombs and missiles, vehicles, weapons, and communications gear.
Horror as woman’s body discovered dumped in suitcase on road
A woman’s body was discovered stuffed in a suitcase near a bus stand in the northern Indian state of Haryana, prompting shock and outrage.
Police arrested a man on suspicion of murder two days after the body of Himani Narwal, 23, was found on the Rohtak-Delhi highway on 1 March.
“We have arrested one accused and further investigations are on,” a police official said.
“The accused belonged to a village in Jhajjar district and was known to the deceased,” Hindustan Times quoting a senior police official as saying, referring to a region in Haryana.
“We will produce the man before the court and seek his remand to ascertain the reasons behind the gruesome murder. Prima facie it seems that some grudge took place between the accused and Himani.”
The suspect, identified only as Sachin, was detained in neighbouring Delhi and allegedly confessed to the crime, India Today reported.
The accused, married with two children, had been in contact with Narwal for more than a year, senior police officer Krishna Kumar Rao said at a press conference on Monday.
He allegedly visited the woman’s home in Rohtak on 27 February and stayed overnight.
The next day, they got into a heated argument during which he tied her up with a piece of cloth and strangled her to death with a mobile phone charging cable, Mr Rao said.
Sachin removed Narwal’s jewellery and stuffed her body inside a suitcase he found in the house. Later that night, he took an autorickshaw to the Rohtak bus stand and boarded a bus to Sampla, where he disposed of the body, the police officer added.
According to India Today, the man was in a relationship with Narwal and accused her of blackmailing him. He was carrying Narwal’s cell phone when he was detained.
Rajneesh Kumar, a deputy superintendent of police leading the investigation, said the suitcase belonged to the victim’s family. “We are investigating all angles. We have found certain clues but cannot reveal them at this stage. We are also taking help from cyber and forensic experts, and examining CCTV camera footage,” Mr Kumar was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
Scratches and bite marks found on Sachin’s hands indicated that Narwal fought back, the Indian news agency ANI reported. Investigators were also checking whether he had pawned the jewellery as a receipt indicating such a transaction was found on him.
Narwal, a law student, had actively participated in opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo campaign and was widely recognised as a Congress party worker.
She was last seen on 27 February.
Her family, who live in Rohtak’s Vijay Nagar, refused to perform her last rites until the perpetrators were brought to justice. Her mother, Savita Rani, alleged foul play saying Narwal’s rapid rise in the Congress party could have made her enemies.
“It could be someone in the party who was jealous of her or someone else entirely,” Ms Rani claimed.
Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, from the Congress party, demanded a fair investigation. “A culprit is a culprit, whether he is in the party or outside it. The law must take its course,” Mr Hooda said.
Senior Haryana minister Anil Vij of the Bharatiya Janata Party described Ms Rani’s allegations about internal political rivalry as “serious” and assured that police were thoroughly investigating all possible motives.
Congress party lawmaker Deepender Hooda called for stringent action against the perpetrator. “We demand exemplary punishment for whoever is guilty in this case,” he said.
The autopsy was conducted at the Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak, but the report was still to come.
Fate of 8 workers trapped in collapsed tunnel unknown after 10 days
Eight workers trapped inside a collapsed tunnel in the southern Indian state of Telangana since 22 February remained out of contact despite multiple agencies working to rescue them.
They were trapped when a tunnel section of the under-construction Srisailam Left Bank Canal in Nagarkurnool area collapsed.
There were 50 workers inside the tunnel when it collapsed but 42 escaped. The fate of the rest was still unknown 10 days later.
Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy said on Sunday that the exact location of the workers remained unknown. He said the over five-metre-deep layer of mud inside the tunnel had made it difficult for rescue teams to determine their precise whereabouts.
Twelve agencies were reported to be involved in the rescue operation and specialists from both state and central governments were assisting them.
Attempts to clear away silt from where the trapped engineers and labourers had been detected earlier inside the collapsed tunnel were intensifying as additional personnel and equipment was being deployed, The New Indian Express reported.
An unnamed official told the paper on Sunday that a conveyor belt damaged by the collapse was expected to be repaired by Monday. Once operational, it would facilitate the removal of debris and sludge from the tunnel.
“The number of personnel and equipment at the identified locations is being increased,” he said, adding that the process of silt removal and dewatering was ongoing.
It was reported over the weekend that scientists from the National Geophysical Research Institute had used ground penetrating radar to detect the positions of four of the eight trapped workers, and that they were expected to be rescued by the evening of 2 March. But the chief minister clarified on Sunday that their exact locations remained uncertain.
The collapse of the “world’s longest irrigation tunnel” was triggered by a sudden inflow of water and soil, causing a section to cave in.
An unidentified expert quoted by The Indian Express said that “there was seepage of water from the hillocks above into the tunnel”, which caused “the mud to loosen and caused a mudslide”. They pointed out that mudslides were not common in tunnel construction. In this case, however, “the tunnel was being dug at a place that was prone to mudslides, and the drilling triggered it”.
Mr Reddy visited the site of the accident on Sunday and said the rescue was progressing but remained a complex operation. It could take another two to three days to locate the workers, he added.
“They are not able to come to a full understanding on where the humans and the machinery got stuck. They have a preliminary estimation, but not fully,” he said, referring to the rescuers.
The Hindu reported that the leaders of key rescue agencies had informed Mr Reddy that clearing debris from the final 20 metres of the tunnel was the most difficult and challenging part of the rescue operation.
As the left flank and roof of this section was still unstable, with heavy water seepage ongoing, rescuers were considering alternative tunnel routes from 13.45km inside to connect with a more stable section of the original path.
“Actually, the operation is going on in full swing. Approximately twelve agencies are working around the clock to find the victims,” VVN Prasanna Kumar, National Disaster Response Force commandant, was quoted as saying by ANI news agency on Monday. “Unfortunately, we have not been able to locate them so far.”
State lawmaker Payal Shankar assured that prime minister Narendra Modi was monitoring the situation and had provided all necessary assistance.
“PM Modi is in continuous contact with the state government and has sent all the help required,” she said. “The rescue operation is underway. We hope that the eight people trapped inside come out safely.”
The trapped workers were earlier identified as Manoj Kumar and Sri Niwas from Uttar Pradesh, Sunny Singh from Jammu and Kashmir, Gurpreet Singh from Punjab, and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahu from Jharkhand.
Accidents related to large infrastructure projects are not uncommon in India.
In 2023, a 17-day rescue operation saved 41 workers trapped in a partially collapsed Himalayan road tunnel in the northern state of Uttarakhand.
Dozens of workers pulled out alive after Himalayan snow avalanche
Eight shipping containers that withstood the force of a snow avalanche in the Himalayas ended up saving the lives of dozens of construction workers who were pulled out alive in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, officials said.
Eight workers died in the avalanche, while rescuers managed to save the remaining 46 Border Roads Organisation (BRO) workers, the Indian Army said. The avalanche struck Mana village in Chamoli district near the China border last week, burying the shipping containers the BRO workers were using as living quarters.
According to rescuers, the workers were found alive due to the eight steel containers being able to withstand the wrecking avalanche, despite being swallowed by the snow.
“These metal shelters saved most of them. They had just enough oxygen to hold on until we got them out,” a senior rescue official told The Times of India.
Rescue workers managed to pull out 50 of the trapped workers but four of them died later, the army said in a statement on Saturday.
The next day, the rescuers found the bodies of the remaining workers.
“All 54 persons have now been rescued or recovered. This marks the culmination of the Mana village rescue operation,” an army spokesperson said.
Jagbir Singh, a BRO officer from Amritsar, said he was sleeping in his container when the snowslide sent them tumbling several hundred metres down.
“The container we were in went rolling down. By the time we could figure out what had happened, I found a colleague had died and one of my legs was fractured. I also had an injury in the head. There were heaps of snow everywhere,” he told The New Indian Express.
Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced the conclusion of the operation. “It was a challenging task, but thanks to everyone, it has been a success,” he said.
Forty-four of the survivors were admitted to a military hospital in Joshimath, and were reported to be stable, and the other two were airlifted to the city of Rishikesh.
The survivors were taken from Mana to the pilgrim town of Joshimath, around 50 km away, by civil helicopters hired by the army, state broadcaster Doordarshan reported.
Many of the workers were migrant labourers engaged in widening a highway stretch from Mana, the last village on the Indian side, to the Mana Pass bordering Tibet.
The difficult weather forced authorities to bring in a drone-based “intelligent buried object detection system” from New Delhi to assist the search and rescue operation.
More than 200 personnel from various disaster management agencies, the local health department and the district administration were pressed into the rescue operation, as well as helicopters, sniffer dogs and thermal imaging technology.
Lalit Kumar Pandit, 28, a mechanic, said he was awakened by a huge jolt. Mr Pandit told News9 that he ran for his loader machine to carve a path in the snow but failed.
The mechanic, along with 22 other people, had to push forward for two hours through “snow and howling wind” until they reached the worker camp, located around 4km away.
The part of the Himalayas hit by the avalanche is ecologically sensitive and prone to avalanches and landslides. Experts have warned that major construction projects such as hydroelectric dams and new highways are increasing the risk of such calamities in the area.
In 2022, at least 27 mountaineers were killed in an avalanche in northern Uttarakhand and a deadly rock and ice avalanche the previous year had severely damaged two hydropower plants and left over 200 people dead.
Geologists say global warming is making the area’s frozen soil more unstable, leading to more landslides and avalanches.
Man has part of intestine removed after ‘childbirth simulation test’
A woman in China is reportedly facing a lawsuit for making her boyfriend undergo three hours of childbirth simulation that led to physical harm.
The man in Henan province had to be hospitalised and have part of his small intestine removed after undergoing the painful simulation, China Times reported.
The man had agreed to undergo the pain simulation test after his girlfriend and her mother insisted that he should experience a woman’s challenges before their engagement.
The man initially rejected the proposal but later reluctantly agreed to go to a medical centre where he was hooked up to electrodes that gave out electric currents to mimic the sensation of contractions, reports said. Several hospitals in China have been offering childbirth pain simulation experience for over a decade.
In a post on Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu or Red Note, the unidentified woman said the first 90 minutes involved manually increasing the level of pain, while for the rest of the session, the intensity of pain remained at the maximum level.
“My boyfriend started screaming and struggling at level 8, swearing and crying at level 10, and by the end, he was gasping for air. My sister and I kept wiping his sweat,” the woman wrote, according to South China Morning Post.
The man suffered from abdominal pain and started vomiting shortly after returning home. A week later, it was discovered that the simulation damaged a part of his small intestine, forcing him to undergo surgery.
The woman claimed she explained to her boyfriend that her family wanted him to understand the hardships of women and had no intention of hurting him. “I am willing to take full responsibility as long as he recovers,” she wrote.
Following the incident, the man’s mother cancelled the wedding and started legal action against the woman.
A lawyer reportedly said that if the injury assessment links the damage to the man’s body to the simulation, the woman could be financially liable as per Chinese law.
Her post on Red Note caused an uproar, with many criticising the woman and her family for forcing the man to undergo “absurd” three hours of pain simulation. “They should bear the consequences for doing such a reckless thing,” wrote one user. “They are making trouble for no reason,” said another person on social media.
Man whose plasma helped save lives of millions of babies has died
James Harrison, who helped save more than two million babies by donating blood over 1,100 times across six decades, has died at 88.
According to the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, Harrison, also known as the “man with a golden arm”, had the “precious antibody in his blood” that was used to make a “lifesaving medication called Anti-D, given to mothers whose blood is at risk of attacking their unborn babies”.
Harrison died in his sleep at Peninsula Village Nursing Home on the NSW Central Coast on 17 February.
He began donating in 1954 at 18 and continued regularly until his retirement in 2018 at 81. According to Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, he has helped save the lives of more than 2.4 million Australian babies.
Harrison’s daughter, Tracey Mellowship, fondly remembered him as a generous soul with a wonderful sense of humour.
“James was a humanitarian at heart, but also very funny,” Ms Mellowship said.
“In his last years, he was immensely proud to become a great grandfather to two beautiful grandchildren, Trey and Addison.
“As an Anti-D recipient myself, he has left behind a family that may not have existed without his precious donations.”
She added: “He was also very proud to have saved so many lives, without any cost or pain. It made him happy to hear about the many families like ours, who existed because of his kindness.
“He always said it does not hurt, and the life you save could be your own.”
Harrison’s rare antibodies were crucial in developing Anti-D, the treatment that has protected millions of newborns from Rhesus disease (or Haemolytic Disease of the Foetus and Newborn) – a condition in which a pregnant woman’s blood attacks her unborn baby’s red blood cells, potentially leading to brain damage or even death.
It occurs when a mother has RhD-negative blood, while her baby inherits RhD-positive blood from the father. If the mother has been sensitised to RhD-positive blood – often during a previous pregnancy – her immune system may produce antibodies that attack the baby’s blood as a foreign threat.
“James was a pioneer of our Anti-D programme. More than 3 million doses of Anti-D containing James’ blood have been issued to Aussie mothers with a negative blood type since 1967,” Lifeblood said in a statement on their website.
“He has changed my world and I’m sure he’s done that for many other families, making him a very incredible human,” said Rebecca Ind, a recipient of Harrison’s blood donations during and after her pregnancy 12 years ago.
In 1999 Harrison was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia – one of the country’s most prestigious honours – for his extraordinary dedication to the Lifeblood and Anti-D programme. His kindness leaves a “remarkable legacy, and he has put the challenge out to the Australian community to beat it”, Lifeblood said in the statement.
“I hope it’s a record that somebody breaks, because it will mean they are dedicated to the cause,” Harrison said of his last donation at the age of 81.
“It becomes quite humbling when they say, ‘oh you’ve done this or you’ve done that or you’re a hero,’” Harrison said at the time. “It’s something I can do. It’s one of my talents, probably my only talent, is that I can be a blood donor.”
At 14, Harrison underwent major chest surgery and relied on the generosity of blood donors to survive. Determined to give back, he vowed to donate as soon as he was eligible – and at 18, he kept his promise, despite a fear of needles.
More than a decade later, doctors discovered that his blood contained a rare antibody essential for producing Anti-D injections. Committed to helping others, Harrison willingly switched to plasma donation, ensuring his contributions could save as many lives as possible.
“James was a remarkable, stoically kind, and generous person who was committed to a lifetime of giving and he captured the hearts of many people around the world,” Lifeblood chief executive officer Stephen Cornelissen was quoted as saying by Australia’s Nine News.
“It was James’ belief that his donations were no more important than any other donors’, and that everyone can be special in the same way that he was.
“James extended his arm to help others and babies he would never know a remarkable 1173 times and expected nothing in return.”
Robyn Barlow, coordinator of Australia’s Rh Program – designed to prevent Haemolytic Disease of the Foetus and Newborn (HDFN) – said she had been friends with Harrison for nearly 60 years after first recruiting him as a donor.
“He made my job very easy because he was so keen to donate all the time,” Barlow told 7NEWS.com.au.
“I never had to worry about him – I never had to call and say: ‘when you’re coming’, nothing like that, he was there standing in front of me.”
In an interview with NPR in 2015, Harrison said: “I was always looking forward to donating, right from the operation, because I don’t know how many people it took to save my life.”
Several reports pointed out that doctors were not entirely sure why and how Harrison developed this rare blood antibody, though they suspect it may be linked to the transfusions he received at 14 after his surgery.
“Every batch of Anti-D that has ever been made in Australia has come from James’ blood,” Jemma Falkenmire, of the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood (then known as Australian Red Cross Blood Service), told CNN in 2015. “And more than 17 per cent of women in Australia are at risk, so James has helped save a lot of lives.”
Fewer than 200 people in Australia donate Anti-D, yet their contributions help an estimated 45,000 mothers and babies each year, according to the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood.
Scientists from WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) in Melbourne, in collaboration with Lifeblood, are working on a project called “James in a Jar” to grow the Anti-D antibody in the lab. Using blood and immune cells from Harrison and other donors, the team has successfully recreated and cultivated the antibody, according to Lifeblood.
This breakthrough could one day help prevent Haemolytic Disease of the Foetus and Newborn, benefiting pregnant women not just in Australia but worldwide, the statement said.