Speaking at a press conference in Harare ahead of World Blood Donor Day on June 14, Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Gibson Mhlanga said government needed to work together with the private sector in funding the blood services as a way of averting high costs for the users.

“Government is fully aware that the user fees of blood are high and out of reach of the majority of Zimbabweans. Between the years 2009 to 2012, National Blood Services Zimbabwe (NBSZ) was able to charge a reduced fee of $80 to the health institutions because of the grants from government and its resource partners that came in consistently.

“However, since 2013, these grants have not been sufficient and this has resulted in reverting back to full cost recovery of $135 per unit of blood for all health institutions,” Mhlanga said.

He said there was a need for the NBSZ to put in place an effective quality management system and procure better equipment to carry out the necessary processes, so as to meet the required standard.

World Health Organisation Representative, Stanley Midzi, said the demand for blood remained highest in Africa due to a number of factors.

“May I highlight that in the area of blood safety, the African Region faces a high demand for blood transfusion due to bleeding related to pregnancy and child birth, high prevalence of malaria with attendant severe complications of severe malarial anaemia, high rates of road traffic accidents and other types of injuries, as well as other indications for blood transfusion,” he said.

He said since the establishment of World Blood Donor Day in 2003, Zimbabwe had held commemorations annually with key themes and slogans originated and designed by WHO Blood and Transfusion Safety Programme.

Zimbabwe’s second largest mobile network, Net One, which has been partnering the NBSZ in their campaigns for the past 10 years, channelled half a million dollars towards blood donor activities and had, this year alone, availed $40,000.

“Previously, Net One has supported donation of blood from schools and bought computers and other ICT gadgets for learning institutions in a bid to encourage pupils to donate blood. However,
this year, as shall be announced explicitly by NBSZ, we are going a step further as we widen our horizon and encourage everyone to come on board,” Net One Marketing Executive, Juliet Ziswa said.

This year’s theme for the World Donor Day will be “Blood Connects Us All” and the commemorations will mainly focus on thanking the blood donors and highlighting the connection between donors and patients.

A local organisation, Rubiem Solutions, has come up with an NBSZ Mobile App, named “Smart Donor”, which will give donors the opportunity to manage their donations.

“The Smart Donor App has been further developed and enhanced to increase usability and interactive features,” said Rubiem Director Software Projects, Tapiwa Jeka.

The App will help donors receive NBSZ notifications, receive personalised reminders on due dates for donation and schedule appointments, as well as invite other donors to come, amongst other features.

--ANA--