On 14 June 2016, the African Region joins the global community to commemorate World Blood Donor Day under the theme “Blood connects us all”. This theme aims to highlight the dimension of sharing and connection between blood donors and patients and to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood.
Blood transfusion has an essential life-saving role in all aspects of health care including maternal and child care, particularly in cases of haemorrhage during or after childbirth, severe anaemia; for victims of trauma and accidents; and in the event of man-made and natural disasters. It also supports complex medical and surgical procedures in health care, among others.
In the WHO African Region, the demand for transfusion of blood and blood products is high and the national blood transfusion services are facing the challenge of making sufficient, safe and quality blood and blood products available. From 2013 to 2016, blood donations rose from about 3.9 million units to 4.4 million units. That is 11.4 percent of increase, but this will still cover only around 50 percent of the annual requirement of blood. So far, only 21 countries are collecting 80 to 100 percent of their national blood needs through voluntary unpaid blood donors.
The shortage of blood in most countries in the African Region is often due to the weak implementation of policies, and lack of systems and structures to ensure an adequate supply of safe blood and blood products to meet the needs of all patients requiring transfusion. In addition, most young people and adults have not yet embraced the culture of voluntarism when it comes to blood donation.
I express my gratitude to voluntary unpaid blood donor for their regular blood donation and thank blood donor associations, nongovernmental organizations and volunteer groups which are working alongside health workers to make safe blood available throughout the African Region.
Concrete actions are needed to improve the safety, quality, accessibility and timely availability of blood and blood products in the African Region. As we commemorate World Blood Donor Day, I call upon every healthy person, national health officials, patient groups, professional societies, civil society organizations, the private sector and international organizations to work towards ensuring their countries’ self-sufficiency in safe blood and blood products. This will contribute towards achieving universal health coverage and Sustainable Development Goals in the African Region.
WHO remains committed to continue to provide technical support to Member States to strengthen service delivery and safety as well as improve access to safe blood and blood products for patients in need in the African Region.