NBSZ Chief Executive Officer Lucy Marowa
BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA
The National Blood Service Zimbabwe (NBSZ) is targeting to collect 97 500 units of blood this year, a figure well above last year’s target of 88 450 units.
The call was made by NBSZ Chief Executive Officer, Lucy Marowa on Tuesday during a press conference ahead of the World Blood Donor Day.
Marowa said whilst last year they had faced operational challenges which impacted them from achieving their target; this year they are well on course (to achieve the target).
“This year we are targeting to collect 97 500 units of blood, it is actually a scale up from last year’s target where we wanted to collect 88 450 units of blood. “And from that target of last year, we managed to collect 82 percent of that target which was 77 020 units.
“But we are saying that despite only getting to 82 percent due to operational challenges, we have managed to managed to do our best to address those operational challenges and scale up to a target of 97 500.
“So far, just for the first half of this year, we have actually achieved about 73 percent of the target, we are well on track.
“So all systems are working well, it like looks we are well on track to achieve that target,” said Marowa.
She added that successful blood donation programmes help in having collections which are vital in saving lives.
Marowa also revealed that World Blood Donor Day commemorations will held in Kadoma on June 14 at Jameson High School, where they are aiming to collect 600 units of blood.
“And as we go to Kadoma, we are hoping to collect a whole 600 units on that day and these will be drawn from both school going and adult donors on the day.
“We are hoping that we will get 400 units from the school going and 200 units from the adult donor community, so it is a mixed panel, where we are hoping to inspire both the school going donors and the adults from that community to become regular blood donors.
“So we are quite optimistic that we can achieve these targets having been able to do similar work in previous years.
“For us, donation is a lifestyle, donation is a culture and it ensures that the patients in need do not have to wait for long hours, they get products as and when they required.
“A timely intervention could make a difference between life and death,” she added.
World Blood Donor Day commemorations will be held under the theme, “Give blood, give hope: together we save lives.”
Meanwhile NBSZ will host a procession this Wednesday 11 June from Africa Unit Square to NBSZ offices in Harare as part of the ongoing efforts to raise awareness about the vital importance of blood donation.
