The First Lady of Malawi, Callista Mutharika, has publicly urged citizens not to shy away from donating blood for fear of being found HIV positive.
Mutharika was speaking at the official launch of the Malawi Blood Transfusion Service (MBTS) blood donation week in the nation’s capital of Lilongwe. She said that many people don’t give blood because they fear that they will be found to be HIV positive.
According to the First Lady, the MBTS is only able to collect 35,000 of the 80,000 it needs at present, so people’s attitudes to blood donation need to change. If hospital blood banks in Malawi had an adequate supply, they would potentially be able to reduce the deaths of pregnant women by as much as 20 per cent.
The chair of the MBTS, Anastasia Msosa, echoed Mutharika’s comments when she said that women and children are most in need of blood transfusions. She said:
“Women and children consume about two thirds of the blood donated because they are more vulnerable to circumstances that lead to blood loss such as malaria and during child bearing,”
The MBTS blood donation week ran from November 21st – 27th.
