The Kenya National Blood Transfusion Services in collaboration with the Ministry of Health has partnered with the Media Council of Kenya to sensitize editors on the significance of creating more awareness on purposive blood donation to save lives.
An Assistant Director of Information at the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, Mary Musasia said, despite blood being a significant component in saving lives especially for accident casualties, cancer, and anaemic patients, the media has not given it the wide coverage it deserves.
Speaking during a tour of the Nakuru Blood Transfusion Centre accompanied by editors from other media houses, Musasia, also an accomplished editor, said the Kenya National Blood Transfusion Services (KNBTS) has taken them through the process of seeking scarce donors, the purification and storage procedures.
The quality and safety management officer at the Nakuru Blood Transfusion Centre, Sammy Kihara, lauded the tour by editors at the centre and urged them to increase the prominence of blood coverage as a lifesaving component in medical procedures.
He said the increased non-communicable diseases in the country such as cancer, diabetes, anaemia and any other surgical procedures require stand-by purified blood before the surgeons consider carrying out the operation.
The two leading blood donors Alpha Sanya and Aisha Dafalla said there were a lot of cultural myths in the country that has contributed a great deal to the continuous blood shortage in the country.
The myths include that the donated bloods is used for witchcraft, devil worshipping and that it reveals unknown diseases.
Dafalla said they were doing everything possible to demystify the myths to help improve the number of willful donors.
She added that as a volunteer donor ambassador it has enabled her to travel all over the country and she was proud of the role she has played in encouraging people to donate blood.
By Veronica Bosibori
