The HIV/AIDS epidemic has greatly affected Kenya 's blood supply. Over the years, the country has seen a decreasing trend in the number of blood units collected annually, while the number of blood units needed continues its steady rise.

Statistics also reveal that every ten minutes, someone in Kenya needs blood. The population needs at least 250,000 units of blood annually, but only 120,000 units were available last year, and some 2% of donated blood was infected with HIV. As a result, some patients simply had to go without needed transfusions.

At any given time there are people in our community who need the help that potential donors can so easily provide simply by donating blood. Some of these patients have suffered life threatening injuries, or severe burns. Some need blood during surgery. Others have life threatening chronic diseases like leukemia and cancer that require frequent transfusions. Others are our children, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, our own mothers who have lost a lot of blood at child birth, accident victims and so on.

Realizing that Blood donation needs a strategic way of marketing and management,a group of Kenyan leaders who have trained at Marquette University, believe it is a very worthwhile cause and deserves to get all possible resources mobilized to make it all that it needs to be done.
The group(led by Dorah Nesoba,Chris Kibett,Mary Kamaara,Joseph Maritim,Kingwa Kamencu and Peter Leley)realizes that the campaign cannot be left to the Government alone and groups and individuals should support the initiative.
They are conducting a blood drive aimed at creating wider awareness on the importance of
blood donation.
They intend to promote awareness among members of the public so they can realize that blood donation saves lives.
According to Dorah Nesoba,the campaign will offer an opportunity to recruit and
retain healthy blood donors including those who have
donated in the past.

Dorah reveals that the idea was borne out of the tragic loss of a member of her family on February 5, 2007 due to the lack of adequate supplies of Blood Group O
Negative (O -VE).
The group hopes to conduct blood drives every a month in churches,
colleges, public schools and private companies.
The blood collected will be dispatched to be tested and allocated to needy hospitals in the country especially Kenyatta National Hospital, the largest referral medical facility in East and Central Africa,where a young man bled to death as doctors tried to save his life and
stop the severe bleeding from multiple head and neck cuts inflicted by machetes.
Their first Blood Drive will be held World AIDS Day to be marked in West Kenya's lakeside town on December 1, 2007.

Learn more about this author, Peter Ongera.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Reasons to donate blood?
We want to hear your view. Write now!