Blood – NEWSSPACE

NBSZ targets 600 units at World Blood Donor Day celebrations

**NBSZ CEO,** **Lucy Marowa flanked by Radhi Chikwereti (left) and Menard Mutenherwa**

BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA

The National Blood Service Zimbabwe (NBSZ) is targeting to collect 600 units of blood during the 2024 World Blood Donor Day celebrations which have been set for next month in the Midlands Province.

Speaking during a press conference on Monday, NBSZ Chief Executive Officer, Lucy Marowa, said this will be the 20^th year anniversary since the launch of the World Donor Day.

This year’s celebrations will be held under the theme, “20 years of celebrating giving, thank you blood donors.”

Official day for the World Blood Donor Day is June 14, but Zimbabwe will hold its celebrations on the following day.

“As a country we are celebrating our World Blood Donor Day this year in the Midlands Province. It has been the culture of National Blood Service Zimbabwe that we do our celebrations from province to province.

“In the previous year, we were in Masvingo, then in 2022 we were in Mutare and the year prior to that we were in Matabeleland so we keep rotating our provinces because blood donation is a national programme that’s why we move from province to province.

“So we will be holding our celebrations for 2024 in the Midlands Province and tentatively we have put our venue as Kwekwe High School; all things being equal, we will meet on the Saturday the 15^th of June at Kwekwe High School.

“And we are looking at a target of 600 units that we want to collect on that one day,” said Marowa.

She added that the World Blood Donor Day had become a symbol of recognition for the blood donors as they had done their best to make it donor centric, by bringing in blood donors.

“We have a massive blood drive, we do our donor awards and we make sure that it is a day filled with fun and a lot of activities for our blood donors.

“This is to make sure that as we are saying thank you to the blood donors, they really feel that this is a day that has been set aside for them and they take part in a lot of activities that will be happening for them, by them.

“So this is the reason why we are doing this on a Saturday the 15^th of June in Kwekwe. The following year it could be a different one, there is no formula that we use to select the provinces.

“We just make sure that wherever the donors are, we actually go to them. So all roads lead to Kwekwe this year in the Midlands Province,” said Marowa.

She further revealed that the day had come about at the 58^th World Health Assembly in 2005 where ministers of health from different nations resolved that it is important to recognize the role that voluntary none remunerated blood donors play in the life saving business of the health care.

“Where upon these people (none remunerated blood donors) have taken it upon themselves to give blood free of charge for people that need it in the medical institutions.

“And we all know that voluntary none remunerated blood donations is actually one of the key pillars in the delivery of quality healthcare services.

“There are many forms of blood services that are available. We have what is called family replacement blood donors, we also have what is called paid donors and many other forms that are available.

“But voluntary none remunerated blood donors, which means giving blood without expecting any financial or material gain is considered the safest form of blood model that countries should adopt.

“So in the year 2005, the ministers of health decided that we want to honour the men and women who are giving their blood free of charge, hence the birth of World Blood Donor Day in that particular year. So this year as we celebrate 20 years since the launch of World Blood Donor Day, we are celebrating with a different theme all together.

“This year our theme is actually entitled, “20 years of celebrating giving, thank you blood donors,” added Marowa.

She also revealed that as NBSZ they are calling on corporates and individuals who can partner them so as to make this day a success.

Bluetoothing floods the ghetto

**Tendai Phillip Daka, Mubatirapamwe Programmes Manager**

BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA recently in Chinhoyi

While the country has been praised for successful HIV interventions, a scourge is threatening to derail such efforts as people looking for a quick way to get intoxicated, have resorted to injecting themselves with blood from other drug users.

Known as bluetoothing or flash-blooding, the dangerous practice which according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information is when “blood is withdrawn from one individual who has recently injected a drug and directly injected intravenously unto another person.”

While this practice was said to have been more common in neighbouring South Africa, a recent media workshop organised by the National Aids Council (NAC) heard that our own people have joined the bandwagon, with the trend now in most ghettos.

Speaking on the sidelines of the workshop, Tendai Phillip Daka, Programmes Manager at Mubatirapamwe, revealed that it was sad that while the country was striving towards epidemic control, practices like bluetoothing are hampering efforts being made.

“Now we have a practice of drug use which is common in South Africa and it is characterized by the use of nyaope drug which is a mixture of heroin, marijuana, ARVs (anti retrovirals) and rat poison.

“So this bluetoothing came about because some people will be facing difficulties to buy drugs so from our understanding, they draw blood from someone who would have injected themselves with drugs.

“It can even be from someone who would have taken crystal meth, so they draw blood from that person so as to also get intoxicated.

“Sadly some people are now seeing it as a business avenue because when they inject the drugs, they then withdraw their blood and package into small plastics or sachets and sell,” revealed Daka.

He revealed that several parents have revealed to them that they are finding sachets of blood in their children’s rooms.

“What we are really not sure yet about is how they (drug users) preserve the blood, but many parents have been revealing seeing this.

“Some parents reveal finding sachets with strong smells and even syringes in their children’s rooms.

“Also known as hotspoting, this practice is increasing the spread of diseases through these transfusions, leading to the transmission of diseases like hepatitis B, C as well as HIV.

“So while efforts are being made to fight HIV, we need to have other interventions to help with the scourge of drug use, failure of which, will lead to losing the HIV fight,” added Daka.

In a separate interview with this reporter, a drug activist who preferred anonymity said sadly bluetoothing has led to increasing cases of new HIV infections and hepatitis B, because of the sharing of needles.

“The first person to inject themselves could be HIV negative but then from the time the syringe gets to be used by the last person, who knows. Maybe someone in between could be HIV positive.

“The worst scenario is if the first person who injects themselves with drugs is HIV positive, then all the other users get the blood from him or her.

“In Zimbabwe it seems the measures to contain this are really difficult because the only thing that people can do is go for an HIV test or if you say someone should take PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), but then it (PrEP) will only block HIV, it doesn’t stop other infections or complications.

“So now there is something called Harm Reduction which has a programme called Needle and Syringe Programme (NSP), but from last I checked, that programme has not yet started here in Zimbabwe.

“This is a programme whereby people who inject drugs will be coming in to get clean equipment to use, like needles, syringes, alcohol swabs and other items, so there is a whole bunch of things provided in NSP,” added the source.

The source further added, “then there are also needle disposal sites so that people don’t just get rid of their needles or syringes willy nilly.”

While a total of 1,3 million people are living with HIV in Zimbabwe, it was revealed that the country is recording a decline in the prevalence and incidence owing to several interventions.

However one hopes that the emergence of practices like bluetoothing, will not hamper the successes which the country is registering in fighting HIV.

NBSZ target 13 000 units of blood for festive season

BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA

The National Blood Service Zimbabwe (NBSZ) is targeting to collect 13 370 units of blood as the demand increases during the festive season due to home and road accidents.

This was revealed by NBSZ Chief Executive Officer Lucy Marowa on Monday as she launched her organisation’s festive season campaign for blood collections.

The campaign started on the second week of November and ends on the first week of January next year, throughout the country and NBSZ is targeting to have 81 sessions.

Marowa revealed that NBSZ operates from five branches, namely Harare, Bulawayo, Masvingo, Gweru and Mutare.

And from these five sites, they are targeting 28 sessions in Harare, 10 sessions each in Bulawayo and Gweru, 17 sessions in Masvingo and 16 in Mutare and they hope to collect a total 13 370 units.

NBSZ estimates that these units should be enough to take us through to the month of January.

“Year in, year out, we always do these festive season campaigns. Why do we do it, because year in, year out, statistics show us that during the festive season, the need for blood is heightened.

“The need for blood is heightened due to accidents not only on the roads but even in our households.

“Festive season is a time for merrymaking and with merry making, comes a lot of accidents that happen in the home; accidents that also happen on the roads as people travel to and from their homes to the various places to meet with friends and family.

“And with that, there is a burden on the blood supply. And as National Blood Service Zimbabwe, it is our responsibility to make sure that the nation has adequate stocks of blood during this festive season,” said Marowa.

She added that the need for more blood during the festive season also coincides with the closure of schools after the third term.

Marowa further added that this is a difficult time for blood collections because this is the time when Form Fours and Sixes are writing their examinations and such, blood collections are low from the schools.

“When our collections are lower during the term and we do not take the right step to prepare for the festive season, it means that we will get into the festive season without adequate stocks and this coupled with the heightened need for blood, is a recipe for disaster.

“Which is why as National Blood Service Zimbabwe we take it upon ourselves, year in, year out to partner with various organisations, various individuals and anyone that is prepared to help the nation through campaigning for more blood donors from the school leavers, from the adult communities in order for us to boost the stocks between the month of November and January to make sure that we have enough stocks to tide us over until schools reopen in January.

“However it is only possible when both adults and school leavers alike come together and donate blood.

“When it comes to school leavers, we will have a targeted approach where we will call them to specific sites, through our database and bring them all together, especially in the month of June, which we have dubbed our youth donor month.

“With the adults, we will specifically look at their work places, partnering with their employers and come to them as and when we can.

“Therefore we call upon the corporates community to support us in any way they can, any level of support is possible,” added Marowa.

She further revealed that corporates can support them by mobilizing a blood drive at their organisations if the numbers are sufficient.

And they can also support them through sponsoring a blood drive as Marowa reiterated “any form of sponsorship is welcome in terms of donor refreshments, tokens of appreciation, fuel for blood collection, anything and everything is welcome.”

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