By Joseph S. Margai in Freetown, Sierra Leone
Three organizations – FOCUS 1000, Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS) and United Nations (UN) agencies – on last Friday at the Buxton Hall on Charles Street in Freetown, rallied Sierra Leoneans to donate blood in order to save lives.
Alhaji Bailor Jalloh, Chief Executive Officer of FOCUS 1000, said every Sierra Leonean is encouraged to donate blood in order to save the lives of women and children.
He called on traditional headers, who he referred to as healers but not killers, traders, unionists, the media, among others, to encourage their members to donate blood.
Dr. Marcella Coker, Program Manager, National Safe Blood Services in the Directorate of Hospitals and Labs, said if there is no blood, humans would not survive.
“In Sierra Leone, we don’t sell blood but we donate but in some places a minimal fee is paid to the donors. Any time you donate blood, you are saving thousands of lives. Most of our mothers and children die a lot because they don’t have blood, we should move away from selling blood but donate at all times,” she said.
Lead Doctor for Reproductive and Maternal Health at World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Fatu Fornah, said Sierra Leone always tops in the area of maternal and infant mortality, noting that the situation should change now.
“Bleeding and malaria are the major causes of death for pregnant women and children. We need blood to save lives but most people are afraid to donate blood which is very bad,” she said.
He said WHO, in collaboration with MOHS, has set up a maternal death surveillance response which is to help know are the causes of death among children and women, noting that since they have started, they have discovered that most of the deaths are because of the loss of blood.
Reproductive Health Technical Specialist at UNFPA, Dr. Riad Mamud, said in his country, where he donated blood 71 times, they were having 700 cases of maternal mortalities per year but it was reduced to 176 because of the people’s wiliness to donate blood.
He said every year, the world loses 10,000 mothers mainly because of bleeding but if there is blood to replace the bleeding, women will be saved.
“Sierra Leone has seven million people and if 1% of that population donates blood, we will have enough blood to save our mothers and children,” he said.
