The wife of the Governor of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, has said the Nigerian youths should be encouraged to make a commitment to voluntarily donate blood and save lives in order to provide help to the needy in the society.
Mrs. Amosun spoke on Thursday at the state General Hospital, Iberekodo in Abeokuta, the state capital, to mark the World Blood Donor Day with the theme: “Every blood donor is a hero,” to raise awareness on the need for safe blood, blood products and to appreciate voluntary unpaid blood donors for their life saving gifts of blood.
The governor’s wife said youths are at low risk of transmitting infection through their blood.
According to her: “The World Blood Donor Day is a call to service, a day a new generation of blood donors are expected to be raised to provide the safest blood possible for use wherever and whenever it is needed to safe lives. We should note that blood transfusion may arise at any time either in urban or rural areas.”
She added that the celebration was also a day to show appreciation to voluntary unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gift by choosing to donate blood without getting paid, saying those individuals had committed a heroic act – a rare gesture of human solidarity with the aim of saving lives.
Mrs. Amosun commended the courage and determination of students in various schools who had come together under the canopy of Club 25 to build a healthy and better society by donating regularly and voluntarily, challenging more people all over the world to donate blood to prevent the unavailability of blood that had led to several deaths and aggravated illnesses.
She was honoured with an Award of Excellence for her numerous contributions to the service of humanity through her various ‘UPLIFTing’ programmes.
Also speaking, the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, represented by the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Olaokun Soyinka, said the infected blood units collected through unsafe practices and from donors with high risk behaviour usually results in numerous preventable deaths, especially amongst women and children and people living with HIV/AIDs, noting that it could be avoided if two per cent of adult population committed themselves to regular voluntary non-remunerated blood donation.
Chukwu called on Nigerians to be their brother’s keepers and become ‘heroes’ by pledging to donate blood today and regularly, appealing to communities to take ownership of voluntary blood donations through the community Blood Donor Mobilisation Initiatives.
Chukwu added that the Federal Government had committed itself to establishing two Blood Component Production Centres in the country by the end of 2013, pointing out that the centres would serve as pilot sites while efforts are on-going to scale up the service.