THE South African National Blood Service (SANBS) commemorates World Blood Donor Day on June 14. This is an international day of recognition of blood donors globally. The theme for World Blood Donor Day this year is ‘Blood connects us all’.
In the face of major communicable disease epidemics, South Africa has maintained a high degree of blood safety and a reliable supply of blood countrywide. This is largely because it follows key recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) on good blood service management: reliance on unpaid voluntary donors, universal testing of donated blood, and reduction of unnecessary transfusions. SANBS is yielding positive results across these areas: It is one of the 65 countries in the world that gets 100 per cent of its blood from voluntary donors who are not remunerated. The WHO has a target that by 2020 all countries will adopt this model.
SANBS works closely with healthcare workers who do transfusions at health facilities to heighten awareness about the correct use of blood thus reducing wastage of this precious resource. To keep blood safe, SANBS tests every single unit of blood collected daily for pathogens that cause HIV, Hepatitis B and C and syphilis which are highly prevalent in the country. South Africa is one of few middle-income countries that run nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT) which detects the pathogens responsible for these epidemics by significantly reducing the length of the window period.
This is an investment that has given many accident victims, people suffering from blood-related diseases and mothers in labour the opportunity to live healthy lives.
Today SANBS has over 400 000 donors on its database and the number is growing. This has been achieved somewhat through embracing the diversification of its donor base.
“SANBS is also getting younger as we are seeing the proportion of donations from our youth increase. We have invested in taking a targeted approach to donor education and community support that moves beyond the need for blood as medical response but also a unifying act of love and care. Blood really connects people and our hope is that our efforts will see an even wider range of donors walk into our donor centres to start their journey in sharing the gift of life,” says SANBS communications manager Ms Vanessa Raju.
SANBS encourages all South Africans to support its endeavours to recruit regular blood donors who make lasting connections with their fellow citizens in need.
For more information on how to become a blood donor and to find your nearest donor centre, visit www.sanbs.org
