Today, World Blood Day, is an opportunity to shed light on an unsolved problem that risks compromising people's health: the shortage of blood supplies. In Nigeria, more than eighty percent of maternal mortality is caused by bleeding complications due to lack of blood. In the country, however, as in many other African nations, the culture of donation is still scarce
In Nigeria, 80 to 90 percent of maternal mortality is the result of bleeding complications due to blood shortage. This data, reported by Sulaiman Akanmu, professor of hematology and transfusion medicine at the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos, highlights the need to strengthen the organization for the collection and distribution of blood in health facilities.
Nigeria, like many other African nations and some other developing countries globally, suffers from a poor blood donation culture , a trend that has worsened during the pandemic .
Due in large part to the consequences of poor policy formulation and implementation, the lack of an enabling legislative framework and funding difficulties, the collection, distribution and use of safe blood poses a major challenge for government agencies and non-state actors. With a population of around 200 million, according to WHO, Nigeria needs an average of 1.8 million liters of blood per year to keep its people safe and sound .
But the country's blood donation agency, Nigeria's National Transfusion Service (NBTS), says it faces a 73.3 percent deficit.
According to NBTS head of planning, research and statistics, Adaeze Oreh, only about 25,000 units of blood exclusively from unpaid voluntary blood donors were selected, collected and distributed in 2019 and 2020.
Oreh said that Recent available data shows that only eight per cent of Nigerians donate blood for free and around 80 of those who do choose to act in specific circumstances - to help relatives in need.
"From the data available to Nbts, it appears that about 80% of donations come from family members," Oreh said in an interview with the Premium Times newspaper.
With a vastly inadequate blood supply to meet clinical needs, many Nigerian hospitals and patients are therefore dependent on people giving up blood for money.
Although Nbts claims that only about 14% of Nigerians donate blood for monetary gain, Oreh said many families negotiate directly with paid donors who are referred to them by friends and family.
In Africa, Nigeria has one of the lowest donation rates by voluntary unpaid blood donors, widely recognized as the safest source of blood and blood products for patients. Oreh cited "various research studies that have established that commercial donors are more likely to live high-risk lifestyles and have a greater burden of transfusion-transmissible infections."
People who give blood for a fee are also often unreliable from the point of view of their health, because the need for money pushes them to neglect the rules of caution and controls.
Experts said Nigeria's uninviting culture of blood donation cannot be dissociated from the country's poor blood transfusion system and lack of a legal framework.
Under the 2006 National Blood Policy, the Nbts service has the task of developing a system of mobilization and motivation of blood donors based on a voluntary and unpaid blood donation and must undertake to standardize its methods of collection, transport, processing, analysis, storage and distribution.
The agency's mandate, based on the provisions of the National Health Act of 2014, is to coordinate, regulate and ensure the supply of safe, quality blood and blood products to "all those who may need them in Nigeria".
However, to ensure that this mandate is achieved, the agency said it faces "a herculean task". The problem is not just having enough blood, but ensuring quality and safety . The agency said it faced severe funding gaps, which also hindered its outreach programs.