Brazzaville, 14 June 2012 – Countries in the African Region of the World Health Organization (WHO) should intensify their efforts to raise public awareness on the importance of blood donation and the recruitment and retention of new donors in order to ensure availability of blood in a sustainable way in national blood transfusion services.

Making this call in a message released in Brazzaville on Thursday (14 June) to mark World Blood Donor Day (WBDD), WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, also called on countries to accelerate efforts in mapping out new strategies to convert family donors into voluntary, regular donors because they constitute the cornerstone of any reliable and sustainable blood transfusion system.

He noted in spite of the laudable efforts and progress in recent years, a significant number of patients in the region needing transfusion did not have timely access to safe blood. He highlighted the vital role played by safe blood donations particularly in the effective and prompt provision of care for women, children and men suffering from haemorrhage and severe anaemia.

While current estimates show that yearly needs are about eight million units of blood, countries of the Region are able to collect only a half of the required quantity. The gap to be filled is still substantial especially in rural areas where the majority of the population and patients live.

The Regional Director stated that the theme of this year's WBDD --"Every blood donor is a hero" – was a reminder that blood donation "is indeed an act of heroism that brings immense joy to blood donors whose sole aim is to give back life and hope to patients who would otherwise not survive without this selfless act."

He added: "While thanking all voluntary donors for their loyalty and commitment, I appeal to everyone to emulate this gesture by donating blood to ensure that there is adequate supply in health facilities."

Dr Sambo pledged that the WHO Regional Office for Africa would continue to support all initiatives helping to improve blood transfusion safety in general and to increase blood collection from voluntary and regular donors in particular.

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For more information please contact:

Samuel Ajibola: ajibolas [at] afro.who.int (ajibolas[at]afro[dot]who[dot]int)