Efforts to ensure adequate awareness on blood donation gets to all Nigerians gets a nod with the inauguration of a collaborative joint commitment of the National Blood Transfusion Service and the National Orientation Agency in Abuja today.
The National Coordinator of the National Blood Transfusion Service, Dr Omale Joseph Amedu mni while inaugurating the joint committee described the collaboration as a complementary exercise as the two agencies have a similar focus on societal development in Nigeria.
The aim of this partnership is to ensure that verifiable messages on blood donation reach the populace in every part of the country using the structural channels and platforms of the National Orientation Agency(NOA).The Joint Committee which is made up of six members from both agencies has amongst her other objectives the task of designing a framework to disseminate messages on blood safety and voluntary non -remunerated blood donation to the Nigerian public, a framework to inform, educate and counsel Nigerians on the need for safe blood donations to save lives, reduce death rates, and increase life expectancy and other human development indices towards the realization of the next level agenda regarding health in line with universal health coverage and sustainable development goal – achieving health and wellness for all.
Mr .Kehinde Ogunkuade who is the Director of Human Resource Management of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) chairs the Joint Committee that will in addition develop a tool for grassroots advocacy and community engagement for blood safety across Nigeria and forge a stronger collaboration between the NOA and NBTS towards achieving the mandate to ensure national availability and accessibility of safe, quality blood and blood products to all who may need it in Nigeria.