The 2014 edition of World Blood Donor Day was commemorated on Tuesday in Yaounde.
About 400,000 units of blood are needed in Cameroon’s hospitals but only 70,000 units are collected annually. About 40 per cent of mother and infant deaths in Cameroon are linked to severe shortage of blood. It is in this light that the 2014 edition of the World Blood Donor Day was commemorated on Tuesday, July 15 in Yaounde on the theme, “Safe blood for saving mothers”.
Speaking at the occasion, the Minister of Public Health, André Mama Fouda called on Cameroonians to donate blood at least once a year to meet the required amount of blood that is needed in hospitals in the country.
The day was an occasion to sensitise the public to donate blood voluntarily to save lives. It featured a blood donation exercise at the premises of the Cameroon Red Cross in Yaounde.
The World Blood Donor Day is a day when homage is paid to all persons who donate their blood to save lives. Given that blood is not manufactured in laboratories like other drugs.
To that effect, some blood donors were awarded attestations for voluntarily donating their blood to save lives. Blood can be donated to victims of road accidents, pregnant women or women who have just given birth, persons suffering from anaemia due to severe malaria, persons suffering from haemophilia and persons on dialysis.
People who can donate blood are male or female in good physical and mental health aged 18 to 65 years and weight from 50kgs. People who cannot donate blood are those who having risky sexual behaviour, have been transplanted or bears the organ of a donor, having serious chronic illness, taking alcohol regularly, having donated blood within the last three months, taking controlled drugs intravenously.
Blood can be donated in the hospital, in a community during mobile collection campaigns. The event took place in the presence of members of government, representatives of international organisations, NGOs and guests.
