Blood donation drives resume amid widespread shortage

The government has allowed blood donation drives to plug the shortage of blood in hospitals around the country.

The drives, which were put on hold in 2020 during the Covid-19 outbreak, resumed last year but were again put on hold following the surge in infections.

This week, Nairobi county partnered with a natural foods company to launch the first blood donation drive this year. 

The drive was led by Forever Natures Gift Nutrition, a private nutrition and youth empowerment company in the city.

"We began on Thursday where 87 people donated blood. On Friday, about 46 people had donated," Emilio Kinyua, the company managing director said. 

He said they were targeting 200 people per day but fewer turned up probably because it is at the beginning of the year. 

"We will still continue on Monday next week outside the Kenya National Archives, we hope more people can come," Kinyua said.

He said anyone between 16 and 65 years can donate. 

The last major blood donation drive was held in June last year at Uhuru Park, Nairobi.

The one-week event was attended by Health PS Susan Mochache, accompanied by Kenya National Blood Transfusion Services head Nduku Kilonzo.

According to the World Health Organization, young Kenyans in school are the main blood donors and are non-remunerated.

"Young people form a large sector of the population in many societies and are generally full of idealism, enthusiasm and creativity," WHO said.

The closure of schools during the Covid-19 pandemic meant that pupils and students could not be relied upon to donate blood in 2020.

Last year, there were also severe restrictions that did not allow donations in schools.

In 2019, the situation was worsened by the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief which terminated its support for blood collection and testing.

That year, there were also revelations that some unscrupulous Kenya National Blood Transfusion Service officials were selling blood to other countries.

The blood transfusion service says about seven Kenyans need blood every 10 minutes and risk death if it is not available. This translates to 1,008 units of blood daily.

However, blood units donated and stored by KNBTS fell to a low of 155,600 in the year ending June 2019, down from 160,000 units in the same period in the previous year.

WHO guidelines state that Kenya should be collecting a minimum of one per cent of the population (470,000 units) of blood a year.

Data by the UK-based Global Blood Fund indicates African countries depend on learners for 60 to 70 per cent of their blood supply. The Global Fund has supported blood drives in Africa since 2008.

The closure of academic institutions across the country owing to the novel coronavirus indicates a correlation to the alarmingly low numbers of blood collection across the country.

In 2020, Health CS Kagwe inaugurated the National Advisory Committee to oversee the supply and utilisation of blood and blood products.

The ministry has partnered with social media platforms to drive blood donation campaigns that capitalise on location to notify social media users of facilities near them in need of blood supplies.

(Edited by Bilha Makokha)