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Brazzaville, 14 June 2007 -- WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, says that 500 000 women in developing countries -- more than half of these in Africa -- die each year during pregnancy or childbirth. Dr Sambo gave this indication in a message on the occasion of World Blood Donor Day commemorated on 14 June.
The theme for the observance of World Blood Donor Day this year is “Safe Blood for Safe Motherhood”. The Regional Director stated that the choice of this theme was particularly important to the Region where the maternal mortality rate averages 1000 per 100 000 live births. This means that, in Africa, one out of every 16 mothers is at risk of dying, as opposed to one mother out of 2800 in the developed countries. Between 25% and 40% of these deaths result from bleeding during or after childbirth and the majority of these women could have been saved if they had had timely blood transfusion.
These facts underscore the important role that blood transfusion services play in national health systems, Dr Sambo added.
Since the adoption of the Regional Strategy for Blood Transfusion in 2001, significant progress has been made in blood collection, blood screening for blood-borne infections, and in blood transfusion. Between 2002 and 2006, the number of blood donations in the African Region increased from about 2 342 000 to over 3 201 300, representing an increase of 36.7%.
“Despite this significant progress, the number of units of blood collected remains inadequate compared to the needs of patients especially in the rural areas which are generally underserved, ” Dr Sambo said in his message released in Brazzaville Thursday.
He attributed this situation to factors including lack of adequate infrastructure, inadequate qualified health personnel, and communication difficulties, all of which hamper the organization of blood collection campaigns in some localities.
Dr Sambo used the occasion to thank partners for their support which has helped not only to increase the number of people trained in the mobilization and recruitment of blood donors but also to improve and strengthen blood collection structures in various countries.
One of the targets set under the Regional Strategy for Blood Transfusion is that, by 2012, all countries should be able to collect at least 80% of blood donations from voluntary donors. As at 2006, 18 of the 46 countries of the African Region had already achieved that target. Dr Sambo urged countries to redouble their efforts to achieve that set target and appealed to “all healthy individuals to give a bit of their blood in order to help save lives, especially the lives of mothers who would otherwise die, leaving behind orphans with little chance of survival.”
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Dr J. B. Tapko, Regional Advisor for Blood Transfusion
Or Ms Joana Teixeira, Public Information and Communication Unit,
WHO Regional Office for Africa, BP 6, Brazzaville, Congo.
E-mail: tapkoj [at] afro.who.int - teixeiram [at] afro.who.int
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