RCSS calls on government to continue providing adequate resources to boost the existing blood donation programme |16 June 2020

A RCSS staff presenting blood donors with a small token of appreciation – a lapel pin bearing the words ‘I am a blood donor’

Sunday, June 14, was World Blood Donor Day, an event that serves to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gift of blood and also to raise awareness of the need for regular blood donations to ensure that all individuals and communities have access to affordable and timely supplies of safe and quality-assured blood and blood products, as an integral part of universal health coverage and a key component of effective health systems.

The campaign theme for this year’s World Blood Donor Day is ‘Safe blood saves lives’ with the slogan ‘Give blood and make the world a healthier place’. The idea is to focus on the contribution an individual giver can make to improve health for others in the community.

Every year, the Red Cross Society of Seychelles (RCSS) joins the global community in celebrating World Blood Donor Day because blood donors give the gift of live, and more lives will be saved if more people volunteer to donate blood on a regular basis.

Blood donor recruitment had always been a component of the RCSS way back before 1976 when it was a branch of the British Red Cross Society under the British colonial. Blood donor recruitment thus continues to be an activity carried out by the Ministry of Health to ensure the availability of safe blood at all times.

Having an effective blood donor data base and the proper system in place is vital now more than ever before. Over the years there has been a remarkable increase in the demand for blood transfusion, thus putting a strain on the blood transfusion unit in ensuring that all demands are met. Requests for blood to RCSS from individuals have also increased and we have exhausted our existing blood donors.

Over the years, the Ministry of Health has been struggling to get blood donors to ensure that there is enough blood in the blood bank. And over the years the National Society has worked diligently with the Blood Transfusion Unit of the Ministry of Health to achieve this, but there is a need to review the way things are being done. Need to review the whole mechanism of blood donation in the country and assess the way this service, this programme is being run.

The RCSS is calling on the government to continue to provide adequate resources to enhance the existing blood donation programme to increase the collection of blood from voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors.

This year we are calling upon the people of Seychelles to “give blood and make Seychelles a healthier place”, says the RCSS secretary-general, Marie-May Esparon. By donating blood on a regular basis we can all contribute to solidarity and saving lives. “I wish to thank all voluntary, unpaid blood donors for the lifesaving gifts they offer to communities and health workers who contribute to donations and transfusion services, because of your commitment, your blood, safe blood, has saved many lives”.

As part of the activities organised to commemorate this day, a blood drive is being organised on La Digue on Friday June 19, in collaboration with the Blood Transfusion Unit of the Ministry of Health.

And yesterday morning, RCSS staff paid a surprise visit to blood donors at the Blood Transfusion Unit and presented them with a small token of appreciation – a lapel pin bearing the words ‘I am a blood donor’.

The objectives of this year’s campaign are:

• to celebrate and thank individuals who donate blood and to encourage those who have not yet donated blood to start donating;
• to highlight the need for committed, year-round blood donation, to maintain adequate supplies and achieve universal and timely access to safe blood transfusion;
• to focus attention on the contribution donors make to the entire community as a critical factor in improving health;
• to demonstrate the need for universal access to safe blood transfusion and provide advocacy on its role in the provision of effective health care and in achieving the goal of universal health coverage;
• to mobilise support at national, regional and global levels among governments and development partners to invest in, strengthen and sustain national blood programmes.

Blood donations are needed in the country and all over the world and the campaign is calling on more people to be life-savers by volunteering to donate blood regularly. But it is also calling on all partners, decision-makers to invest more resources and energy in the effective running of the blood donation service and to conduct an evaluation to identify and review the existing one.

Contributed by the RCSS