Health insurance provider, Leadway Health is partnering the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service and REPPLAW Blood Donors Club on a blood donation drive initiative in commemoration of this year’s World Blood Donor Day. The two-day blood donation exercise is scheduled to commence from June 15 to June 16, 2021, at Leadway’s head office in Lagos.
Chief Executive Officer, Leadway Health, Dr Tokunbo Alli, said the initiative is in alignment with the 2021 theme of the World Blood Donor Day: “Give blood and keep the world beating,” to raise awareness of the critical need to provide safe blood through unpaid and voluntary blood donors to the nation’s healthcare system.
Alli, stated that research by the World Health Organisation on the Impact of COVID 19 pandemic on blood supply and demand in the WHO African Region posits that the number of blood donations has dropped in 32 countries.
According to him, Nigeria recorded a 37.8 per cent decrease in blood donation between June 2019 and June 2020.
He said this sad reality calls, “for an immediate response from the government, the national health authorities, corporate organisations, under which Leadway Health and other socially responsible organisations are primed and proud to respond and, most importantly, well-meaning individuals towards the wellbeing of every member of the society.”
“The need for blood is universal, but access to blood for all those who need it is not. With this collaboration, we are optimistic that unpaid and voluntary donors will come out in their numbers to donate blood, show care, and contribute to better health which is a key driver for us at Leadway Health”, he said.
Continuing, he said “We implore everyone especially the youths to embrace this humanitarian call to donate blood, inspire others to do the same and enhance communal solidarity”, he added.
Leadway Health is an innovative health maintenance organisation that provides a new dimension to conventional health insurance, with affordable, flexible, and technology driven services to address the inaccessibility and unaffordability barrier faced by the average Nigerian.
