Malawi Club25 Lilongwe Chapter, a grouping of blood donors aged 25 and below, has organized a blood donation day for youths in Lilongwe so as to help the Malawi Blood Transfusion Service (MBTS) collect blood.
Malawi Club25 President and Lilongwe Chapter Chairperson Alex Sakala in an interview with Malawi24 said they have organized the blood donation day to save lives by helping MBTS to collect part of the required 80 thousand units of blood needed per year.
“It has always been a plea by MBTS the mandated blood collecting organization asking for more support so as to see more stock of blood products but this has not been the case as people don’t come in to donate blood.
“So as Malawi Club25 Lilongwe we have organized an open day on 8th April, 2017 at Lilongwe Community Centre hall and we are calling all youths within Lilongwe and sounding areas to come in and donate blood to change the current situation of blood shortage,” said Sakala.
He added that the club has ventured in awareness campaign in various youth groups on the importance of blood donation in saving lives.
“We have ventured in awareness campaigns with youth from various young groups on the importance of blood donation in saving lives by helping MBTS collect enough blood units per year,” he added.
He further said that lack of enthusiasm among the youth in donating blood is one of the reasons leading to shortage of blood in the country which is increasing the number of deaths among children due to Malaria and pregnant women due to loss of blood during delivery.
Club25 is a club of young blood donors aged between 16 and 25 who pledge to donate at least 25 units of blood in their life time.
The club is a branch of Blood Donors Association of Malawi (BDAM) and the Malawi Blood Transfusion Service (MBTs) acts as the secretariat for the association.
The main aim of the club is to ensure that the youths remain eligible and safe blood donors by encouraging them to lead a healthy lifestyle since young people play a vital role in HIV/AIDS prevention and control strategies as peer educators.
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