Hero Cameroon Collects 100 Litres of Blood, Boost Blood Bank

June 9, 2018

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By NFOR Hanson NCHANJI

BUEA, Cameroon-Saturday June 9, 2018-9:00 AM local Time (Cameroon News Agency) Blood Banks at the Limbe and Buea Regional Hospitals have been boosted following the collection of 100 litres of blood by Hero Cameroon, an NGO specialized in health education and research within the country.

The donations were made by some 200 persons, mostly students from the Faculty of Health Sciences in the University of Buea, in prelude to the commemoration of World Blood Donor day on Thursday June 14, 2018.

The donation was carried out in four phases; sensitization and registration, mini physical examination, donation and refreshments.

**Cross section of participants at the Sensitization phase of Blood donation by HERO Cameroon at Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Buea in Mile 17**

Prior to the exercise, the Chief Operations Officer of Hero Cameroon, Dr Domin Sone Majunda Ekaney, said it was paramount to donate blood to fill the almost empty blood bank in Cameroon. He told donors that Cameroon needs at least 400,000 pints of blood yearly but can only afford 73,000. These pints of blood are mostly collected in General and Regional hospitals across the country, reasons why the National Blood Transfusion programs are being set up to meet the demands.

**Dr Domin Sone, Chief Operations Officer, HERO Cameroon, lecturing donors**

Dr Domin Sone further explained that the demand is very high especially for obstetric emergencies where 50-80% of supplied blood is used. This is because severe bleeding during delivery or after child birth is the major cause of Maternal Mortality rate with about 40% of maternal deaths in Africa.

After this first phase, the donors were registered, examined to make sure they are qualified for the exercise, before donation was carried out, where over 200 donors gave about 100 litres.

**Registration and physical examination of donors**

Members of Hero Cameroon, working in partnership with the two regional hospitals in the South West region; Buea and Limbe, have said their goal is to see into it that the blood banks of these hospitals never run dry, thus sharing and saving lives, since every blood donor is a Hero.

Eligibility for Blood Donation

Male or female, be in good physical and mental health, aged 18 to 65 years, weight from 45-50kgs, have a haemoglobin level of at least 12.5 g/dl (Male donor is 13.0 g/dl), not have had any symptoms of infection for at least 1 week e.g. sore throat, cough, runny nose, diarrhea, not have had a fever in the last 3 weeks, normal range blood pressure.

Those Excluded from the Exercise

Those with risky sexual behavior, have been transplanted or bears the organ of a donor, having serious chronic illness (CKD, Cancer), taking alcohol regularly, having donated blood within the last three months, taking controlled drugs intravenously, during menstruation

Team Hero Cameroon pose with some blood donors

About Hero Cameroon

Raise awareness on the growing health and economic impact of diseases in low income settings
Safeguard a more equitable, “disease-free” and emerging Cameroon.
Perform high quality epidemiological and public health research on prevailing diseases public health magnitude and provide data which will dictate clinical and public health practice in low income countries.
Cultivate research attitude among young Cameroonians
Promote capacity building and foster social and gender equity
Expand access to good health technicians/doctors/clinics

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