Ghanaian Television Presenter, Radio Host, and Health Advocate for Behind My Smile Foundation, Abigail Ashley, has urged Ghanaians to incorporate blood donation as a lifestyle by donating blood at least twice a year.
She notes that there have been technological developments in the health sector over the years, worldwide, but none of these developments involve the production and manufacturing of blood.
“I’ve also realized over the years that there’s a lot of developments going on around the world, a lot of innovations around the world. Robotic surgery, as we can see now, digitalization all over but it’s only human beings that can produce blood. So if we don’t donate blood, how would someone receive blood when they need it?” she questioned.
To this end, Abigail Ashley expressed that the only means to save a life is by donating blood voluntarily since she is also a beneficiary of blood donation which saved her life during her kidney transplant.
She, therefore urged the general public to donate blood at least twice every year to help save lives.
“If for nothing at all, just make up your mind twice yearly to donate blood. Some people can do more than that but if for nothing at all, twice every year, you don’t know who you’ll be saving. Your blood could be saving me. My blood could be saving you. That should be enough motivation for all of us”, she added.
Abigail Ashley made this known at a “thank you cake-cutting” exercise held at the National Blood Service Headquarters, in Accra towards the celebration of World Blood Donor Day 2023.
Also speaking at the cake-cutting exercise, the CEO of the National Blood Safety Service Ghana, Dr. Shirley Owusu-Ofori stated that the “thank you cake-cutting” exercise was held to cherish blood donors for their continuous availability to donate blood.
He described blood donation as a civic responsibility but a voluntary exercise, which takes real and true volunteers to do so.
Expressing appreciation to blood donors over the years he said, “Your gift of blood has indeed saved many lives, and we are here just to say thank you”
Dr. Shirley Owusu-Ofori emphasized that this year’s blood donor day celebration centers on paying attention to hearing the heartfelt stories of blood recipients.
This she says helps to encourage blood donors to avail themselves at all times.
Toward the world blood donor day celebration on June 14, the Principal Blood Donor Recruiter at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, Mr. Samuel Quarmyne urged the general public to contribute to blood donation exercises to save lives.
According to him, the significance of the world blood donor day celebration is to give accolades to blood donors for their constant availability to donate blood at all times.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with ATLFM NEWS, he revealed that persons between the ages of 17-60 years are eligible to donate blood once they have no underlining health conditions or are not breastfeeding.
To him, “All blood groups are very much needed to donate blood since machines can never produce blood, we, therefore, need all the contributions needed to help save lives”.
He said blood banks at various hospitals are short of blood, hence the urgency for blood donation to be everyone’s priority to ensure that persons who need blood urgently can be attended to without losing their lives.
World Blood Donor Day takes place on June 14 each year.
The Day was created to raise global awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products for transfusion and to lay emphasis on the critical contribution that voluntary and unpaid blood donors make to national health systems.
The day also provides an opportunity to call to action governments and national health authorities to make provisions for adequate resources to increase the collection of blood from voluntary, unpaid blood donors and to manage access to blood and the transfusion of those who require it.
The World Blood Donor Day event was organized for the first time in 2004, by four core international organizations: the World Health Organization, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations (IFBDO), and the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT).
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Source: Comfort Sweety Hayford/ATLFMNEWS
