by Paul Oluwatosin Akinwumi

In Africa’s biggest economy, Blood donation is supposed to be a fundamental part of the country’s health care system as blood transfusion is often a necessity for disease and bleeding disorders.

However, checks by Dataphyte showed many Nigerians are yet to embrace the culture of blood donation as most donors are still pessimistic and skeptical due to widening trust deficit, misconceptions and biases about blood transfusion.

In 2021, a total of 20,839 people donated blood without being compensated, data sourced from National Blood Service Commission (NBSC) showed. Further findings showed the number of voluntary unpaid blood donors in Nigeria has been on a steady decline since 2017.

In 2017, a total number of 42,384 people donated blood voluntarily without being paid, this number reduced to 20,420 in 2018, then it increased slightly in 2019 to 24,527 and decreased to 22,218 in 2020 and 20,839 in 2021.

From 2017 to 2021, Jos had the highest number of voluntary donors of 66,281 people, followed by Abuja with 15,277 people. Calabar has the lowest number of donors with just 92 people, followed by Jalingo with 524 people.

An analysis of the NBSC data shows that from 2017 to 2021 Plateau State had the highest number of voluntary donors of 66,281 people, and FCT followed with 15,277 people. Whereas, Cross River State had the lowest number of donors with just 92 people, followed by Taraba State with 524 people.

The distribution of the data on voluntary unpaid blood donors by geopolitical zone shows that the North Central region had a total of 83,407 donors, and the South West had a total of 16,366. The data shows that only 4,875 people across the North East and 7,397 across the South East donated blood without being paid between 2017 to 2021.

The NBSC said that only 500,000 pints of blood are donated, screened, and collected every year across the country.

About 25,000 units of blood are collected from unpaid volunteer donors, which is far less than the WHO-recommended 1.8 million units of blood sourced from voluntary donors annually for a country like Nigeria, which has a population of over 200 million people to assure blood safety and availability for transfusion.

NBSC noted on their website that 3,400 hospitals in the country receive blood donations each year.

Continue reading: https://www.dataphyte.com/latest-reports/nigerias-blood-bank-nosedives-on-trust-deficit-growing-misconceptions/

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The key problem with low blood donations in Nigeria is lack of awareness.

Roll out a well targeted awareness campaign, it will yield positive results, trust me.