Give blood to save a mama and a baby

Iam motivated by the chunk of information on the MamaYe and W.H.O Websites marking the World Blood Donor Day to write this piece. I am so impressed by the commitment put to produce those creative assets. The title of my article is adopted from one of the advocacy messages on the MamaYe site.

“Give Blood to save a Mama and a Baby” underpins why we should mark the World Blood Donor Day which is set yearly on 14th June. As highlighted by W.H.O ‘blood transfusion saves lives and improves health, but many patients requiring transfusion do not have timely access to safe blood. The need for blood transfusion may arise at any time in both urban and rural areas. The unavailability of blood has led to deaths and many patients suffering from ill-health. Around 108 million units of donated blood are collected globally every year. Nearly 50% of these blood donations are collected in high-income countries, home to less than 20% of the world’s population.

An adequate and reliable supply of safe blood can be assured by a stable base of regular, voluntary, unpaid blood donors. Regular, voluntary, unpaid blood donors are also the safest group of donors as the prevalence of bloodborne infections is lowest among these donors.’

It has been reported that every year, an estimated 289,000 women die worldwide from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth (World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNFPA, The World Bank, & UNFPA 2014). Nearly two-thirds of these maternal deaths (62%) occur in sub-Saharan Africa (W.H.O, UNICEF, UNFPA, The World Bank, & the UNFPA 2014) with severe bleeding as the leading direct cause accounting for 24.5% of maternal deaths (Say et al., 2014). Key interventions to reduce maternal deaths from severe bleeding are skilled birth attendance, which includes the enabling environment to provide skilled care (e.g. availability of all essential drugs, supplies and equipment) and ensuring the availability of quality emergency obstetric care.

Women who bleed while pregnant or around the time of delivery are at high risk of dying because once bleeding has started death can occur in around two hours (Family Care International Inc & Gynuity Health Projects, 2006). Therefore, among other strategies to prevent maternal deaths from haemorrhage, it is crucial for women to have rapid access to adequate, safe, and affordable blood for transfusion (Bates et al., 2008).

W.H.O has also corroborated the above assertion by reiterating that many patients requiring transfusion, however, do not have timely access to safe blood and blood products. Every country needs to ensure that supplies of blood and blood products are sufficient and free from HIV, hepatitis viruses and other infections that can be transmitted through transfusion. Adequate and reliable supply of safe blood can only be assured through a stable base of regular, voluntary, unpaid blood donors. They are the safest group of donors because the prevalence of bloodborne infections is lowest among them.

In 2012, 73 countries reported collecting more than 90% of their blood supply from voluntary, unpaid blood donors, among them 60 countries collect 100% of blood supply from voluntary unpaid blood donors. But in 72 countries, less than 50% of blood supplies come from voluntary unpaid donors, with much of their blood supply still dependent on family/replacement and paid blood donors. About 50% of these are donated in low- and middleincome countries where some 80% of the world’s population lives. The average blood donation rate is more than 9 times greater in high-income countries than in low-income countries.

The median blood donation rate in high-income countries is 36.8 donations per 1000 people. This compares with 11.7 donations per 1000 people in middleincome countries and 3.9 donations per 1000 in low-income countries. This is a call to action in many developing countries that we have to do more awareness and support to ensure regular unpaid blood donation.

Taking the advocacy home, Nigeria’s National Blood Transfusion Services is only collecting 3% of the blood need in country. This underpins ‘more needs to be done to stop mothers dying from lack of blood’, as captured in one of the MamaYe fact sheet.’

There is a role for everybody; What can the public do?

1. Give blood today to save a mother. As the saying goes “There’s no black market to replace blood”.

2. Call on the National Blood Transfusion Services (NBTS) and policy makers to provide and use more reliable, up-to-date, and publicly accessible information on blood supply, safety and screening, places where blood can be donated and the amount of blood used, including for mothers and babies.

3. Call for politicians to invest resources so that there are functional blood banks available with sufficient stocks of safe blood for when a mother may need it.

What can Politicians do?

1. Put saving mothers and babies at the heart of your political agenda and campaign and manifestos

2. Addressing the challenges of collecting safe blood in Nigeria: Invest resources, such as funds, into the NBTS and other areas that affect the collection of blood e.g. strengthening the health system.

3. Ensure functional blood banks available with enough stocks of safe blood for when a mother may need it.

4. Put efforts into fully implementing the National Blood Policy and put efforts into enacting regulatory legislation and ensuring that blood collected is safe.

Remember it is in doing all of the above that we can save a Mama and a Baby. This is a pre-election year which we should utilise to call on our politicians to plan and strategies for the mama and the baby.

All comments to Dr Aminu Magashi at healthweekly@yahoo.com