World Kidney Day Blood Donation Campaign

Purpose: To educate and promote blood donation among the public. To motivate people to help one another in times of need because even if they cannot give money, they can still give blood. To instill a sense of confidence in the medical system and teach the public to hold the various public systems in place as accountable. By giving blood, each donor can hold the hospital accountable for the blood they’ve donated and ensure the blood is used to help a person in need.

Public Message: Every donation helps save a life of a kidney patient.

Brief Description:

VAHA and The African Dream Network held a short blood drive at the Bamenda Regional Hospital.

There was a total of 9 VAHA volunteers, 5 of which donated blood on that day and 1 who was handing out flyers around the hospital. All of the volunteers were wearing red t-shirts for the event with the logos of both organizations imprinted on the front and a message on the back: 

“Kidney Patients also need blood Donate Blood, Safe a Life.”

The VAHA project coordinator, Grace Tetuh, and the founder of The African Dream Network, Micha Cho, were present for the event.

The donation process was easy. Each person filled out a form, stating their personal details and their health history. Then one by one, donors were called on by the registrar for a small consultation. Then a small blood sample was taken to determine each donor’s blood type and the correct storage bag was given to the donor for safe keeping. After a few minutes donors were requested back in the donation room where they would lounge comfortably in a chair and lean back if they needed to and give a full bag of their blood.

Each donation to about a maximum of 5-8 minutes. When seated, the donor was instructed to continuously make a squeezing motion with the arm that the blood was drawn from. The procedure was administered by one of two medical professionals and observed by two students. The donor was continuously observed, and their blood bag was very frequently checked to ensure there are no complications with either. 

After the blood was completely filled, the donor was instructed to sit for about 5 minutes and hold a cotton ball to the site of injection.

Upon completion of all donations, pictures were taken with the staff and the volunteers to commemorate the day and a VAHA volunteer spoke with The Sun News Paper about the mission and success of the campaign.

Organized by: Value Health Africa and The African Dream Network

Press URL: The Sun News Paper