For the fiscal year 01 April 2021 to 31 March 2022, the Blood Transfusion Service of Namibia (NamBTS) received 41 734 blood donations.

NamBTS Chief Operating Manager Christa Gouws revealed this on Tuesday during a media day in the capital, stating that blood donations increased by 9.5 per cent when compared to the previous year.

Gouws said the increase was primarily driven by demand for group O blood type and that in total, 26 667 donors donated blood, representing a 14 per cent increase over the previous year.

“The increase was largely driven by more new donors, as well as donors who returned after not donating for more than a year,” she explained.

Approximately 74 per cent of whole blood donors were repeat donors, while 26 per cent were new donors.

According to her, 1.0 per cent of Namibians donate blood, up from 0.9 per cent the previous year.

In terms of blood safety in Namibia, the proportion of blood donations that tested positive for various infectious diseases, also known as TTI, was lower than the five-year average of previous years as it was at 1.14 per cent, with no significant change in positive donations from the previous year.

“The positive donation rate for HIV was 0.14 per cent, 0.55 per cent for Hepatitis B virus, 0.14 per cent for Hepatitis C virus and 0.31 per cent for Syphilis. Given the high prevalence of these infectious diseases in Namibia’s general population, these percentages remain very low and acceptable,” she said.

Gouws noted that the demand for blood supplied by NamBTS for transfusion in State hospitals increased by 9.6 per cent during the review period, while it increased by 0.1 per cent in private hospitals.

“Overall, the amount of blood we supplied increased by 7.9 per cent during the review period. The main factor driving the increase in blood usage was an increase in blood requests for casualties such as car accidents and stab wounds, maternity and cancer cases, as well as planned surgical procedures,” she explained.

Source: Namibian Press News Agency