By Adia Jildo, in Juba, South Sudan
The Director General for the public health in South Sudan, DR. Lul Lojok Deng, has called upon citizens to voluntarily donate blood in any nearby facility or at the blood bank to reduce the high demand for blood in the country.
He said that only 23 % of South Sudanese are donating blood, which is not sufficient to meet the demand for blood in the country.
“Only 23% of donors are nationals. 77% of the donors are non-nationals. It’s from outside. Let us change this. Let us reverse it. We want nationals to be 80%, he said while urging the South Sudanese nationals to exceed the non-indigenes in the voluntary donation of blood.
Different groups of foreign nationals in South Sudan have been organizing themselves to donate blood yearly at the blood bank.
“We are neglecting something very important here. Not only the food that people are talking about. The poor people like these young children, the pregnant women, mothers who deliver, they are bleeding and dying. They need blood,” he said.
Misconception and lack of awareness on the importance of donating blood are some barriers to voluntary blood donation.
In 2013 during the war, South Sudan was hit by blood shortage where blood was got from Kenya to the rescue. The country was forced to establish its first blood bank in 2014.
According to Dr. Lul, there was need for 12,000 unit of blood to be collected year in South Sudan.
Most common method of getting blood is the family replacement, which doctors said they are aiming at replacing the method with voluntary donations.
“It is a big challenge to have access to safe blood, so that we are able to save lives. We need us human beings to give blood to our people who might need them.
