This Friday, June 14, marks the celebration of World Volunteer Blood Donor Day. This day was designed by the World Health Organization to encourage healthy people to donate blood regularly, in order to improve the quality of life of patients who depend on transfusions and to contribute to the establishment of a safe blood supply in countries around the world.
On the occasion, the Minister of Public Health, Hygiene and Prevention is concerned about the low percentage of blood donations in the DRC, despite the efforts made by the government to increase the rate of voluntary donations.
“In the DRC only 35% of donations collected come from voluntary and unpaid donors while the WHO recommends to all countries that at least 80% of donations come from voluntary and unpaid donors, by the end of 2030; the challenge to be taken up in terms of raising awareness and promoting voluntary blood donations remains enormous. The Government of the Republic has provided the National Blood Transfusion Center with necessary support in blood safety reagents and consumables and has equipped it with the minimum basic equipment to continue to ensure quality of service. This support will certainly contribute to the effective management of our preferred targets of the free maternity and newborn care program; program included in the ongoing universal health coverage strategy,” declared Roger Kamba Minister of Health.
And to add:
“I therefore appeal to our sense of patriotism and national solidarity so that on the occasion of this day, we are all aware of the fact that the lives of many Congolese men and women also depend on the good will of all of us to donate blood regularly.”
Furthermore, the ministry indicated that over the last twelve years approximately 545,000 women and 2,900,000 children under the age of 5 in the DRC have been saved thanks to the blood transfusions from which they have benefited.
According to Congolese blood transfusion legislation, all blood collected must be properly tested according to guideline standards. ABOD blood grouping, phenotyping of the Rhesus subgroups (C, c, E, e antigens), the Kell system (Kell antigen) and other blood systems must be carried out systematically on the donated blood. The same applies to screening for irregular antibodies and serological markers for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) viruses and syphilis.
For its part, the National Blood Transfusion Center of the DRC recommends that transfusion only be done with blood from the blood bank.
For this year, 2024, the theme chosen is: “20 years of celebrating blood donation, thank you to all blood donors”, an opportunity to warmly thank all donors and to further encourage them not to get tired of giving. regularly their donations in order to continue to save human lives.
Grace GUKA
