The Kwaaba Foundation, an NGO, has appealed to the Ministry of Health to resource the National Blood Service Ghana (NBSG) with adequate logistics to run the organization. This is to help bring on board more second cycle students to donate blood to save lives.
Founder of the NGO, Maame Kwaaba Stephens said second cycle institutions have been major contributors to the Blood Service. There is the need to provide the service with resources to reach a larger number of students.
Speaking at the launch of a Blood Tracker App in Accra, Ms Stephens noted that the Blood Service runs dry anytime students are on vacation necessitating the development of the App.
She said with the help of the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Education Service, the App will go a long way to doubling the number of students who donate blood, thus being able to reach them when they are on break.
The Blood Donation Tracker App is purposely to help increase the stock at the blood banks through the implementation of a national Database. This will track the number of units of blood donated to recognize and reward the efforts of second cycle schools.
The App seeks to leverage the school pride to create awareness on the importance of donating blood. This, the founder of Kwaaba foundation, Maame Kwaaba Stephens, calls on the relevant stakeholders to engage vigorously in the awareness creation by providing the necessary resources to the NBSG, to ensure the wider coverage of the students and even old students of the various institutions.
She said Ghana has never met its requirement which is only one percent of the Ghanaian population therefore, the need to double steps to help save lives.
The Chief Executive of the National Blood Bank Service Ghana, Dr. Justina Ansah welcomed the initiative, adding that it will help to gather data for the service which has been a key challenge.
Speaking on behalf of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Madam Linda Adjei said blood donation is a civic responsibility and the media is the best tool to encourage and educate the public on the importance of blood donation.
The tracker will later be deployed beyond schools and used for other groups. The foundation hopes the tracker will not be just a data collection system but a support system that interconnects policy, practice and technology.
