Increased malaria cases raise demand for blood

15 January 2004

DEMAND for blood has increased because of the increased number of malaria cases brought about by the rainy season.

Zambia National Blood Transfusion Services (ZNBTS) medical director, Dr. Gabriel Muyinda disclosed yesterday that during the rainy season, blood demand rises because of increased malaria cases especially in under-five children.

He said his organization was however, trying to meet the challenge by improving the collection methods.Dr. Muyinda said ZNBTS in Lusaka had already established a blood collection center at the Zambia Building Society House in Cairo road where he said the response from public has been good.

�We are very happy with the response from the public because they do not usually show that kind of willingness from such places,� he said.
He said January was usually a difficult month for blood collection because schools, which are the main sources of blood, are usually closed.
�The collection center in town has been a good alternative,� he added.

And Dr. Muyinda has revealed that the percentage of HIV prevalence from donated blood has reduced from 25 per cent in 1989 to 5 percent in 2003.
He attributed this to improved donor selection methods and the encouraging of repeated donors, who are well-established donors who donate blood regularly.
Dr. Muyinda said even the improved testing procedures had contributed to the reduction.

Meanwhile, ZNBTS is working on a proposal to embark on a restructuring programme that would make it more autonomous. Dr. Muyinda said this would make the operations of ZNBTS more efficient as it would have more control over its operations.

He said among other proposals was that ZNBTS should have its own personnel as opposed to the current situation where much of the personnel were on secondment from the hospitals.

ZNBTS is also to embark on a programme to have provincial centres collecting enough blood to supply to towns under their jurisdiction.