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‘Adults lag behind in blood donation’

27 Apr, 2014 - 00:04 0 Views

The Sunday News

Vusumuzi Dube Sunday News Reporter
THE National Blood Services Zimbabwe (NBSZ) has dispelled fears that the blood bank could run dry despite the adult community lagging behind in blood collection although they consume a larger percentage of the blood collected countrywide.
In an interview at the just ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), NBSZ Matabeleland region public relations officer, Mr Sifundo Ngwenya, said although they still relied on youths for the bulk of blood collected they were satisfied with reserves in the bank.

He said what was worrying was that while adults consumed 80 percent of the available blood they constituted just 20 percent of those who were donating while the youth made up 80 percent of donors against a utilisation capacity of 20 percent.

“We have come up with a strategy where we want to increase our donor community especially among the adult community because we have realised that while they gobble close to 80 percent of our blood reserves they constitute just over 20 percent of our donors.

“I have to note that over the years we have recorded a slight improvement in our adult donor community but we believe we can improve it even further that is why in the past couple of months we have started targeting faith based organisations, so as to increase our pool,” said Mr Ngwenya.

He said their major challenge was to balance the donations and at the same time further improve the blood bank.

“In terms of our blood stock I would not say we are in the red as honestly we would need as much blood as possible but rather we are in a position where we can say we are very safe in terms of stocks though we will keep on calling on people to actively donate.

“Some people believe blood is only required after accidents but it should be noted that it has a host of other uses taking for example at the maternity ward where it plays a huge role in reducing maternal mortality, which further helps the nation attain Millennium Development Goals five and six, we must always bear in mind that it’s everyone’s responsibility to donate blood because one day it will either be them or someone close who requires blood supplements,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Matabeleland region continues to top in blood donations with another school in the region set to lift the national award again this year. Last year the national winners were John Tallach  High School in Matabeleland North while the previous year, Mpopoma High School were the overall winners.

“This year Thekwane High School is most likely to scoop the national award, this in itself shows that people in the region especially our schools are doing quite well in terms of donations. If we are saying that in the past three years we have been leading, it is honestly quite encouraging.

“Our major concern, however, is in terms of funding because as a non-profit making organisation we rely on Government funding therefore our call is on the corporate sector that they at least chip in and assist us fulfil our mandate,” said Mr Ngwenya.

 

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