Access Bank Decries Nigeria’s Low Blood Donation Profile

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Monday, August 23rd, 2021

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – A frontline multinational commercial bank, Access Bank Plc has decried the declining statistics on blood donation in Nigeria.

Access Bank’s Group Head of Corporate Communications, Amaechi Okobi stated this in a statement made available to the media today.

Okobi said Nigeria’s National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) revealed that only about 25,000 blood pints were sourced exclusively from voluntary unpaid blood donors that were screened, collected and distributed in 2019 and 2020.

This figure, according to him, was dishearteningly low compared to the amount required in hospitals across the country. He noted that the low rates are majorly due to the knowledge gaps and scepticism around blood donation.

“In a bid to address issues surrounding the low rates of blood donation in the country, the Corporate Communications Group of Access Bank PLC, has partnered with Haima Health Initiative and the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service to launch the Save a Life project”, he said.

He further explained that the initiative, which is an offshoot of Access Bank’s longstanding Employee Volunteering Scheme, aims to plant seeds of positivity by emphasising the lifesaving power within a pint of blood by raising over 200 pints of blood from donors.

Okobi added that the group surpassed this target, recording a total of 213 pints across the two-day activation.

“In Nigeria, there are too many erroneous perceptions about blood donation and the resultant effects of this is a widening disparity in the number of pints of blood needed to save lives and what is available in our blood banks. Hence, what the Corporate Communications Group of Access Bank (comprising about 20 staff members) in collaboration with our partners aims to achieve through the ‘Save a Life’ project is to debunk misguided beliefs and emphasise the enormous benefits of this humane act. We are optimistic that individuals and corporates alike take a cue from what we are doing and join the quest to save lives.

“Through the Employee Volunteering Scheme, Access Bank’s employees contribute ideas, skills and resources to address social, environmental, and economic challenges whilst acquiring practical experience and fulfilling their roles as positive role models in society. With several other initiatives focused on tech, healthcare, agriculture, amongst others, Access Bank through its employees, continues to practically demonstrate its dedication to being more than banking”, he stressed.