Easter is all about blood
AS PART of the upcoming holiday preparedness, National Blood Service Zimbabwe (NBSZ) will rollout an Easter Week and Holiday campaign that will be activated tomorrow and will run until April 30 2018.
The campaign has a two-pronged approach that is targeting both the adults and the youths and will be held under the hashtag theme #LifeisintheBlood. The adult-targeted campaign will be activated through NBSZ static clinics in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare and Masvingo whilst the youths blood drives will be hosted through the Pledge 25 Club.
The Easter Week and Holiday campaign comes at back of a successful Valentines Month Campaign held in the month of February.
Blood donors who will visit the NBSZ clinics during the Easter Week will celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ with a meaning because similarly Christ spilt his blood to save humanity thus Life is in the Blood.
NBSZ will celebrate with blood donors who will come to give blood in style but the first five donors to walk through our doors to donate will each get Big Easter bunnies and an Easter cupcake.
The Easter Week and holiday campaign is a strategy to counter any incidence of seasonal shortages that might occur during the school holiday period as youths contribute over 70 percent of the annual blood collections.
Although all blood groups are needed, there is a special need for blood type O positive due to the high demand. The campaign will also make a special appeal for blood type O negative which is currently in short supply.
O negative blood type is a rare blood group in the population mainly found in the white population. As part of this nationwide holiday campaign, NBSZ through the Pledge 25 Club Zimbabwe (P25 Club) will host community-based blood drive campaigns in the 33 zones of the Pledge 25 Club. P25 Club campaign galas were activated on Friday the 23rd of March with blood drives at Nzwimbo Growth point and Murape Secondary School in Seke.
The campaigns are expected to run until the first week of May 2018.
The major blood drive gala for the holiday campaign will be the Ladies Gala targeting female donors will be held on April 7 across the country through NBSZ branch offices.
The Ladies Gala comes at the back of a successful Men Splash blood drive event held on March 10 2018 where 785 units of blood were collected out of a set target of 800 units. Female donors are being urged to look out for these campaigns and be part of these blood drives.
Target for the Ladies gala is 700 units. Mixed Galas where females and males donate together to be held in all major towns and growth points targets to collect 2100 units of blood and the 33 zones spread across the country will host these events.
Pledge 25 Club Zimbabwe is a special club for young and healthy citizens who pledge to regularly donate safe units of blood at least 25 times in their lives. ◆ Write to or contact Esther Massundah, Public Affairs Manager on 04-251851, 251854/251855-6, 0772162279, 0772162280, 0772162281, 0772162282, 0772162283, 0772162284, 0772162285. Email: info@nbsz.co.zw. Facebook: NBSZ Bloodbank. Twitter: @NBSZbloodbank