This archive report was first published on 13 June 2020.
The World Blood Donor Day, commemorated on Sunday, June 14, 2020, has prompted the Kenyan government to embark on a blood donation campaign to address the country's blood shortage.
According to the Ministry of Health, the situation of the country's blood bank is challenging, with the Kenya National Blood Transfusion Service (KNBTS) collecting only about 250 pints of blood, a significant drop from the pre-COVID-19 levels of 450 pints per day.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr. Rashid Aman noted that the country's population of 50 million requires a minimum of 1 percent of its population to be stocked, which translates to around 500,000 units of blood per year or 1370 pints per day.
However, the country has been recording and collecting only about 164,000 pints a year, which is far short of the minimum required. Dr. Rashid attributed this to the challenges faced by the KNBTS in collecting blood, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of the campaign, the Ministry of Health has posted an additional 22 members of staff to the KNBTS and will be pumping in Ksh1 billion through the World Bank programme to upgrade and improve services and blood collection within the country.
Additionally, the government has leveraged ICT and collaborated with Facebook and Damu Sasa Systems to mobilize blood donors for the next two days, with over 12,779 individuals setting reminders on their Facebook accounts to donate blood.
Dr. Rashid acknowledged that there have been some level of corruption in the blood services, which the ministry is addressing through investigations and a programme of reform on the KNBTS.
The blood donation campaign is a collaborative effort between the government and various partners, including the KICC Management, Standard Group, Damu Sasa systems, UNFPA, AMREF, Farm Access, KNH, and Coca Cola.
