Kenya most in need of O negative blood type, KNBTS says

On June 14 every year, the global community marks the World Blood Donor Day; where unpaid donors voluntarily provide blood to those that need them most around the world.

Joseph Ng’ang’a, a first-time donor, on Wednesday walked into a blood donation booth, his motivation to save someone’s life. His selfless act can be the difference between life and death for someone else.

“It's my first time donating blood, I never thought about it before but I can assure you, donating comes with the joy of knowing that you provided a second chance to someone who needed it,” he said.

Access to safe blood and blood products remains an important and core component of saving lives.

Every drop counts in a country where seven Kenyans require a blood transfusion every 10 minutes, a situation exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), blood transfusion can potentially save several lives but many a time, patients needing transfusion do not have ready access to safe blood and can be saved by a donor.

The Kenyan National Blood Transfusion Service (KNBTS) now notes that blood Type O negative is the most needed right now.

“If you've ever considered donating blood, now is the time to take action. We aim to collect 500,000 pints this year, World Health Organization requires we collect at least 1% of the Kenyan population. Last year we collected 298,000 units,” noted Festus Koech, KNBTS regional manager.

Despite the ongoing blood shortage, Koech notes an increase in donation from 40 per cent to 70 per cent of the demand.

“If everybody in the country donates blood on their birthday, that is once a year, we will meet the demand. We are currently making an urgent call for people with blood group O- to donate, this blood type is the rarest and the demand is very high. Very few people have this blood type, in 100 donors we only have about 3 people with the same blood type,” he said.

To mark the World Blood Donation Day, St. John’s Ambulance and KNBTS pitched camp at the Kencom bus station with the aim of raising awareness and promoting core values of blood donation in enhancing community solidarity.

“Blood levels are low, the country needs 500,000 pints, as we mark this day, we urge people to come out in numbers and donate. We have partnered with KNBTS and we try to ensure we collect at least 200 pints per day. Our goal is to increase the pints stored in blood banks,” said Dennis Matara, St. John’s Ambulance Public Relations officer.

According to WHO, of the 112.5 million blood donations collected globally, approximately half of these are collected in high-income countries, home to 19 per cent of the world’s population.