13 Jun 2018

Serowe Administrative Authority assistant district commissioner, Mr Charles Modise says there is need for Batswana to develop a culture of donating blood. Mr Modise said this at the at the Pledge 25 blood donation cycling tour hosted by Serowe District Health Management Team (DHMT) in an effort to create public awareness on the importance of donating blood.

“For those harbouring from donating blood, there are health and social benefits of donating blood,” he said.

Some of the health benefits of donating blood he said were reduced risk of cancer and mortality, weight loss and reduced chances of heart attack and stroke for those between the ages of 43 and 61 years if they donated blood every six months. “Transfusion of blood and blood products save millions of lives every year.

It helps the patients suffering from life threatening conditions live longer and with higher quality of life and supports complex medical and surgical procedures,” he said.

Mr Modise also mentioned that donating blood had an essential life-saving role in maternal and child care. He said with a population of about 2.2 million, Botswana needed approximately 45 000 units of blood annually to take care of any eventuality that might need blood. “Our target today therefore is to collect 2 000 units of blood from June 1 to 14.

The units collected in this activity will add value to our national blood requirements,” he said. Mr Modise noted that the day was also a culmination of events leading to the World Blood Day, an annual event that intended to appreciate blood donors and create awareness of blood donation to the public. The day will be celebrated in Mahalapye on June 14.

“The theme for this year, Be There For Someone Else, calls for people all over the country to donate blood voluntarily and regularly with the slogan share the blood,” he said.

Mr Modise thanked Pledge 25 cyclists and appealed for their support to enable them to reach their aim of creating awareness on the need to donate blood.

 “I would like to give courage to the cyclists that not only are they supporting creation of public awareness for blood donation but also keeping healthy and thereby fulfilling the wellness part of the ministry of health since cycling is an exercise,” he said.

For his part, Serowe DHMT head, Dr Nahanson Kombe said there was need to create awareness among the community on the importance of blood donation, doing it free and voluntarily. “Just like money, blood is scares there is no substitute for it as it can only be taken from people,” he said.

He said Serowe had a target to collect 350 units of blood monthly but they were unable to reach it most of the time. “We were only fortunate to reach our target in January and March this year. Last month we collected only 174 which is not even half of our target. That is why we need to promote a culture of blood donation,” he said.

Dr Kombe further said there was need to encourage youth to donate blood adding that mostly, they only managed to collect blood from students but then the numbers declined after such students completed school.Ends