Blood stocks running low

in preparation of the festive season – a period which normally sees demand for blood increasing.
The National Blood Services Zimbabwe said the blood bank was currently at 2 352 units against the national collection target of 5 200 units.
“This festive season we are urgently appealing to the public as we draw closer to Christmas to donate so that we have enough to see us through the festive season into January.
“There is a higher demand of blood during the festive season,” said NBSZ spokesperson Mrs Esther Massundah.
The demand for blood is usually high during the festive season compared to any other time of the year because of an upsurge in road accidents.
Mrs Massundah said in a bid to convince people to donate blood, her organisation had partnered with the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe in a nationwide awareness campaign.
The campaign will be running under the theme “Decade of action for road safety; be a part of it by donating blood and help save victims of traffic accidents”.
“The objectives of the campaign are to ensure that NBSZ meets the national requirements by ensuring that there is enough blood in the blood bank and this will be done through educating the public about the importance of blood donation and how it saves lives,” said Mrs Massundah.
Mrs Massundah said this campaign carried out during the festive season with teams distributing fliers to motorists travelling on busy roads was timely.
Apart from the festive season campaign, Mrs Massundah said NBSZ organised monthly donor campaigns aimed at addressing seasonal blood shortages.
This campaign dubbed “Youth Donor Month”, which was launched in 2006 and is held throughout the month of December every year, incorporates all Ordinary and Advanced Level students who failed to give blood because of examination commitments.
The NBSZ is looking forward to collecting at least 4 000 units of blood during this campaign.
Mrs Massundah said her organisation had also collected about 1 800 units of blood from a Youth Donor Day held on December 3 this year.
She assured the nation of quality blood and blood products from her organisation.
“Quality in blood transfusion is concerned with every aspect of the transfusion practice and applies to all its activities,” she said.