Minister laments women’s apathy to blood donation

Minister of State for Health, Dr. Khaliru Alhassan has called on Nigerian women to change their attitude toward blood donation and become volunteers so as to help save lives.

The minister who was speaking during the commemoration of the World Blood Donor Day at the weekend lamented that women donate less than 25 percent of the blood needed in the country.

“The total number of blood units needed by Nigeria each year is estimated at 1.3 million representing 0.08% of Nigeria’s population (WHO). However, approximately 1.1 million units of blood are collected annually through the various types of donations, leaving a deficit of over 206,000 units. This deficit results in numerous preventable deaths, especially amongst women and children,” said Alhassan.

“This can be avoided if only 2% of our adult population commit themselves to regular voluntary, non-remunerated blood donation. I call on more women to embrace blood donation as available statistics reveal less than 25% of blood donors in Nigeria are women, a trend which needs to be reversed.”

The minister said regular donation of blood three times for women and four times for men from only 1% of Nigeria’s population will establish the donor pool we need.

Ten percent of Nigeria’s blood supply is from voluntary unpaid donors, while up to 60 percent come from commercial blood donors and 30 percent from family replacement donors, he explained.

Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, Linus Awute, said blood transfusion had been identified as one of the nine key life-saving interventions for the management of pregnancy-related complications.