adminPaidamoyo Chipunza Senior Reporter
The National Blood Services Zimbabwe has intensified its blood collection campaign as it seeks to collect at least 70 000 pints of blood in 2017 alone.
In an interview on Wednesday during the launch of its first campaign for the year in Harare, NBSZ spokesperson Ms Esther Massundah said this year’s focus was on increasing collections from the country’s seven static sites.
She said while there were no shortages in 2016, the main objective of the static sites campaign was to increase adult blood donors.
“The main objective of these campaigns is to increase blood collections in our static sites by adults whose contribution to the national blood donor bank has been minimal over the years. We hope through these campaigns, we will be able to encourage more adults to donate blood,” said Ms Massundah.
NBSZ has seven static sites for blood collections from which the site at Joina City was leading in collections, accounting for 39 percent of the total blood collected from all static sites. She said some sites in smaller towns such as Gweru and Masvingo were still making minimal collections.
“Today’s campaign has seen donors from Radio Zimbabwe, National FM and the Seventh Day Adventist Church coming in for donations. We hope to continue with these campaigns till December to enable us to collect at least 70 000 pints of blood, which is our target,” she said.
Last year, the NBSZ collected 65 031 pints of blood from a target of 65 000 pints.
Ms Massundah said the NBSZ is also taking advantage of the campaigns to conscientise the adult population on the importance of donating blood.
She said they will also be explaining the reason for a cost to blood when it is donated. Blood prices went down twice times last year from a high of $135 in Government institutions to $120 before getting to the current $100.
Ms Massundah said these reductions were necessitated by a grant availed by the National Aids Council amounting to about $403 000.
Online Reporter