An NGO, Beacon of Transformative and Inclusive Development Centre (BEACON), has urged Nigerians to donate blood to help bridge the significant supply gap in the country.
The Executive Director, Mrs Abigail Olatunde, made the call in a statement in Kaduna on Saturday, to commemorate the World Blood Donor Day.
According to Olatunde, in spite of needing 1.8 million pints of blood annually, Nigeria collects less than 500,000 pints, leaving over 1.3 million people without access to blood when they need it most.
Olatunde lamented that the shortage had severe consequences including mothers dying in childbirth, children with sickle cell anemia going untreated, and innocent accident victims dying while waiting for blood.
She noted that such a scenario was not just a medical challenge, but a question of equity, access, and social protection.
“The cost of saving lives through blood donation is relatively small, with processing costing about N6,500 per unit in public systems.
“To close the national gap of 1.3 million pints will cost roughly N8.45 billion per year, that is less than 0.5 per cent of Nigeria’s federal health budget, and only seven per cent of Kaduna State’s health budget,” she said.
Olatunde, emphasised that the cost of saving lives through blood was small, but the cost of doing nothing was unbearable.
She said that around the world, countries were proving that the gap could be closed, adding that in India, mobile blood donation clinics and digital tracking platforms had scaled voluntary donation nationwide.
She also said that in Rwanda, centralised blood services had helped reach rural hospitals faster.
According to her, over 70 countries now meet nearly all blood demand through voluntary, unpaid donations supported by public investment.
“These are not perfect systems, but they show what is possible when leadership, funding, and public trust align”.
The executive director, therefore, called on the federal and state governments to invest strategically by allocating at least N8bn to N10 billion annually to national blood services
She also urged the governments to integrate emergency blood access into the National Health Insurance and primary healthcare systems, calling on Nigerians to support voluntary blood donation through education, outreach, and donor recognition.
Olatunde equally called on communities, private sector partners, media and development agencies to support a culture of safe and voluntary blood donation, especially in underserved areas.
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