Rwanda joined the rest of the world on Saturday to celebrate the World Blood Donor Day with a call on the youth to take part in blood donation.

The call was made by James Kamanzi who represented the Minister for Health at the national celebrations held in Kansi sector Gisagara District.

Statistics from the national centre for blood transfusion shows that only 27 per cent of the population donate blood, a ratio Kamanzi said was still low to satisfy the growing demand for blood.

Dr Jean Baptiste Mazarati, the deputy director-general in charge of bio-medical services, said the youth are in better position to donate blood.

"The blood that you donate will not only save lives of Rwandans but also the growth of the nation because good health increases the county’s productivity,” Dr Mazarati said.

Cost recovery mechanism

Dr Mazarati called for public support as the national centre for blood transfusion embarks on a cost recovery mechanism to ensure quality management and distribution of safe blood in the country.

"Today, we are giving out blood free of charge. However, we spend close to Rwf70,000 for one to get safe blood because we don’t use all the blood we collect due to the danger it may pose on one’s health,” he said.

"Out of the 43,074 units of blood we collected last year, 0.5 per cent had HIV virus, 1.2 per cent Hepertytis B, 1.6 per cent Hepertytis C, while 0.3 per cent had syphilis. So, for one to get safe blood, we have to first sort out all those infections.”

More than 95 per cent of the funding of transfusion services comes from external donors.

"Today we are giving out blood free of charge but if we don’t work out a strategy early enough and our donors for some reason withdraw their funding which we are grateful for, government will not be able to fund the centre on its own and will in turn affect service delivery,” he added.

Regular donors recognised

At the event, 10 people who have donated blood several times in the district were rewarded with various prizes and certificates as a token of appreciation from NCBT for their efforts in saving lives of fellow Rwandans.

While presenting the prizes, the head of NCBT, Dr Swaibu Gatare, commended the donors for their efforts in saving lives.

"For each unit of blood these people have donated over the years saves lives of about three people. It is evident that these people have played critical roles in ensuring that Rwandans have good health,” Dr Gatare said.

Those recognised have donated blood more than five times and top most had donated blood 55 times.

Africa has recorded significant progress on the available safe blood in hospitals over the last 10 years, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The number of blood donations in the region increased to more than 3.7 million units in 2012, representing some 45 per cent of the amount of blood and blood products the countries need annually, according to a June 14 statement from WHO.