Nigeria only meets 5 % of its blood need- NBTS

By Sade Oguntola

From left, Dr. Shehu Sule, Permanent Secretary,
Federal Ministry of Health and Dr. Hassan Lawal, at
the opening ceremony of the National Blood
Transfusion Service Stakeholders' Conference
recently in Abuja.NATIONAL Blood Transfusion Services (NBTS) coordinator, Dr. Folake Ayo, has described as critical, a situation where Nigeria only has access to about 5 per cent of its blood needs to save lives.

Speaking at a stakeholders’ conference on blood transfusion services in Nigeria held in Abuja, Dr. Ayo said by estimate, Nigeria needs about 1,125,600 units of blood but had only 62,381 units in the past year, an amount that is about 5 per cent.

The inadequacy in blood supply, she said has not helped the NBTS to achieve its mission of providing safe, quality and adequate blood in an equitable and cost effective manner to Nigerians that may need blood.

Dr. Ayo said that though Nigeria has a large pool of potential donors that could donate blood, persistent reluctance of people to voluntarily donate blood due to cultural and religious taboos and myths as well as uncooperative attitude of health workers and blood service outlets to allow for a centrally coordinated system were threats to ensure that there is enough blood for medical care.

She stated that for a good and adequate blood safety in the country, there was the need for promotion of voluntary non-remunerable donors, conversion of family remunerable blood donors to voluntary non-remunerable donors and reduction of blood screening using the rapid tests in hospitals to ensure that the blood collected was adequately screened to ensure safety.

She called for a ban on commercial blood donors and banks in the country, stating that this is important considering that blood not properly handled at any stage of collection and storage can serve as a channel of transmitting infections. Meanwhile, in a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the stakeholders called on the government to create a separate budget line for blood safety and make NBTS a parastatal to enable it perform more efficiently.

For safe blood to reach every corner of the country, they called on state governments that have capacity to set up blood transfusion services to set up such facilities based on the expected standard.

Expert proffers solutions to drug abuse

By Seye Adeniyi

THE problem of drug abuse, misuse and its attendant consequences can be checked and brought to the barest minimum if appropriate professional methods are adopted and pharmacists in the country have a major and technical role to play to stem this tide.

A renowned professor of pharmaceutical technology, Mbang Femi-Oyewo, gave insight into how this can be achieved while speaking in Ibadan recently. According to her, drug abuse and misuse are major problems threatening the success of primary healthcare services in the country and as such, it requires a solution that will not further complicate the already existing problems.

On how to successfully achieve the battle against drug abuse and misuse apart from using public awareness and sensitisation programmes in form of radio, television and other forms of advertisement to create national awareness about the issue, Professor Femi-Oyewo stated that pharmacists also have a major role to play and government must release this fact and give them the needed support and encouragement to achieve the feat.

She further disclosed that if the government can make rural areas attractive to healthcare practitioners and deploy pharmacists there, this singular action will go a long way in checking the excesses of patent medicine sellers, majority of whom now see rural areas as places where they can make money by capitalising on the weakness of rural area dwellers majority of whom are less-literate.

There is a lot of drug abuse and misuse going on in the less-developed cities because of the peculiar situation in these places. We can curb the problem if government can deploy pharmacists to these areas, but before this can be successful, rural areas should be made attractive to healthcare practitioners because you cannot ask people to go to villages without taking care of their welfare, give them good and special remuneration as well as sound welfare packages to ensure they stay,” she advised.

Families advised to mitigate HIV problems

By Sade Oguntola

EXPERTS at this year’s International Day of Family in Ibadan, Oyo State, have called on families, especially men to join forces in the mitigation and prevention of HIV in the country. Speaking, Mrs. Iyabo Taiwo, Coordinator, Behavioural Change Society For Family Health, said the onus was on men to be informed on HIV and educate their children as well to ensure that their wives register for antenatal care and assess treatments to prevent their unborn children getting infected with HIV in case the mother has the virus.

According to her, “adequate plans and support by the man will not only ensure that the woman did not breastfeed to prevent the baby getting infected with HIV but even ensuring that they have a will drawn up in case of their demise to care for their children and orphan children.”

Mr. Kolawole Bolarinwa, representing Oyo State Action Committee on AIDS, declared that the role of fathers and families in combating the problem of HIV essentially, includes sharing information with his family on HIV, caring and supporting any of his family member that is with HIV so that such is not discriminated against as well as help rally around orphans and widows.

Mr. Bolarinwa then called on the government to help support families, saying “it is hard for families to cope now and if anyone is now living with the virus, it will further compound the problem.”

Nigerian Society For Information Arts and Culture, which organised the celebration, Mrs Adejoke Scott-Emuakpor, said decided to celebrate the day because it realised the importance of HIV to the survival of the society and the need for the community to be aware of what they can do at the family level in mitigating HIV.