Health Minister urges Cameroonians to donate blood, save lives

By Vera Fon

Out of the 400,000 blood banks the country is in need of annually, only about 147,000 blood pints are collected. To improve on this little figure, the National Transfusion Service has organized a three-week blood donation program across the country to increase the quantity of blood in the country’s blood bank.

The Minister of Public Health, Manaouda Malachi while speaking during the ceremony in Yaounde on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, to celebrate World Donor Day stated that donating blood is necessary as it helps to reduce suffering and death linked to blood shortage.

“There are about 782 deaths per 100,000 births in the country and nearly half of these cases are related to bleeding, stressing the need for people to donate blood in campaigns. Let’s all mobilize to save lives” Minister Malachi said.

He went further to express gratitude to those who regularly donate blood and insisted that blood donation is an act of generosity, solidarity, and citizenship that saves thousands of lives every day.

The General Manager of the National Transfusion Service, Dora Mbanya said “We are encouraging people to donate blood freely, not necessarily because a family member or friend is in need. Our target is to reach 3,000 health districts in this campaign.”

Cameroon’s public health ministry reported that in 2022, hospitals in the country were able to collect a little more than 120,000 pints of blood from voluntary donors, family members, and friends of sick patients.

The government says blood donation needs in Cameroon are increasing due to the conflicts in the country’s North West and South West regions, and fighting with Boko Haram militants on the northern border with Nigeria

This year’s World Donor Day is commemorated under the theme “Give blood, give plasma, share life, share often”