Promoting Voluntary Blood Donation

Penultimate Sunday, June 14, was
observed globally as World Blood
Donor Day. The Day was set aside by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to arouse global consciousness on the need for people to imbibe the spirit of saving lives through voluntary blood donation.
Each year, a theme that captures the very essence of the event is carefully chosen to mark the day.
The theme of this year’s celebration, ‘Thank You For Saving My Life’, had been chosen by WHO in collaboration with the International Society of Blood Transfusion to highlight stories from people whose lives have been saved through blood donation.
The theme of this year’s celebration is so apt and could not have come at a more auspicious time as now that the nation’s medical facilities are daily overwhelmed by patients in dire need of blood to survive.
Since time immemorial, voluntary blood donation has been indispensable in life saving health-care services. However the attitude of Nigerians to voluntary blood donation has been poor, resulting in inadequate annual blood volume collected in Nigeria.
For instance, whereas an estimated 1,336,000 units of blood is needed by Nigerians to survive, only 1,130,000 units are collected annually.
This shortage had also led to numerous preventable deaths, especially among women, children and people living with certain diseases. Furthermore, in Nigeria 60% of all blood donations are from commercial donors, 30% from family replacement and only 10% from voluntary donors.
Nigerians should know that blood is key to survival and that when you donate blood you give life, and that absence of blood is equivalent to death.
As Nigerians join the rest of the world to celebrate World Blood Donor Day, it is essential that everyone should support the campaign on voluntary blood donation.
Indeed, Nigerians need to know that voluntary blood donation is not only important for the sustenance of comprehensive life-saving healthcare services but for the good health of the donor.
Experts say when a donor donates blood, the bone marrow comes alive and gives the donor fresher, newer blood.
According to Prof. Temitope Alonge, Chief Medical Director, University College Hopsital, Ibadan, Nigeria had good equipment to screen blood, insisting that blood and its transfusion were safe.
Even so, we urge government and stakeholders in the management of blood banks to fashion out ways of motivating voluntary blood donors. There should be free medical treatment for donors in government medical facilities for donating over a particular period of time.
We believe that mere certificate of blood donation is not enough motivation to attract voluntary donation.
Even at that, The Tide believes that potential blood donors should freely and willingly donate blood to needy patients in the spirit of being their brothers’ keepers rather than expect any form of compensation.
It is then and only then that the World Blood Donor Day celebrations would have been meaningful.