Abuja, Nigeria – An estimated two million units of blood are needed each year to adequately satisfy the demand for blood and blood products in Nigeria. But experts say only about six hundred units were made available between January and May 2007. Unsafe blood transfusions play a role in the transmission of HIV/AIDS, malaria and viral hepatitis in developing countries, including Nigeria. Experts are therefore encouraging people to voluntarily donate blood. It’s a campaign by the Federal Government of Nigeria and organizations like the Safe Blood for Africa Foundation. The campaign is called Voluntary Non-Remunerated Blood Donation. In this report, Justice Kalu Amah looks at efforts of the Federal Government and its partners to encourage Voluntary Blood Donation.

Nineteen year old Kabiru Sheik Yahaya is a regular blood donor.

Every three months, the University of Abuja student visits the National Blood Transfusion Center in Abuja. “To me it is a good thing to do because I’m donating blood to save other peoples’ lives. That fulfillment makes me donate blood,” Karibu says.

He says he was afraid the first time he donated blood. “Everyone gets a bit scared, if you have not done it before. But the first time I donated blood, the only thing that pushed me to do it was the fact that I was donating blood to save a life.”

Kabiru is a member of Club 25. Club 25 is made up of young people between 18 and 25 years old. They have chosen to become voluntary blood donors to save lives. Most of all, they want to reduce the prevalence of HIV in Nigeria. They also want to encourage their peers to live healthy lifestyles.

Dr. Tamunomebi Thompson Wakama is a consultant pathologist at the National Hospital in Abuja. He agrees that there is self-fulfillment when voluntary donated blood saves someone’s life. “When the blood you donated gives life to someone else who could have died, there is always that joy of saving the life of that someone,” he states.

Dr. Wakama says apart from saving lives, the donor’s body will be refreshed each time he donates blood: “Your marrow will now produce fresh blood to replenish the ones you have donated out.”

It’s also important to properly screen blood from donors to ensure that Transfusion Transmissible Infections - known as TTIs - from the donor blood are not passed onto the patient. The TTIs may include HIV, Syphilis, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. “There is a possibility of contracting HIV through blood transfusion. If somebody who has come to donate blood is HIV positive, that blood can infect the recipient. It is 90 to 100 per cent certain that the person who has received the blood that is HIV positive will test positive for HIV.”

In developing countries such as Nigeria people still die due to an inadequate supply of blood and blood products. To be able to ensure availability of safe blood in Nigeria, the Federal Government established the National Blood Transfusion Service in May 2005, which coordinates and regulates blood transfusions in the country.

Dr. Sunday Ayodele Bolorunduro is the Zonal Coordinator in the North Central Region. “The beneficiaries of the service are all Nigerians, all resident in Nigeria,” he says. “They include people who have road traffic accidents, people who have gunshots, women in labor, women in pregnancy, children who have anemia with low levels of hemoglobin, people who have blood clothing disorders and people who are under treatment for cancer and HIV and AIDS, to mention a few.”

Dr. Bolorunduro says there are policies and guidelines on appropriate use of blood and blood products. But he says there is a special focus on Voluntary Non-Remunerated Blood Donors. “The policy essentially states that we expect blood donors transfusion services countrywide for all the citizens in a world class quality program. We expect every facet of the program to be on an international standard.

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