Blood transfusion centre adopts mapping report boosting substantial donation drive.

This was during the fourth steering committee meeting of the French Solidarity Fund for Innovative Projects known by its French appellation, FSPI-Project. 

The project seeks to enable the centre to cover up the existing deficit in the supply of blood in Cameroon. 

The meeting was attended by the Director General of the National Blood Transfusion Centre, Prof Dora Ngum Shu, the Regional Adviser on global health at the French Embassy, Dr Dufourcq Jean Baptiste, and Ndjib Michel Simon Gabriel, the consultant who carried out the mapping project. 

The work, which is aimed at helping the blood donation centre to master the terrain and orientate the institution on how to strategise and unveil an efficient plan to cover up the nation with proper blood donation activities, was done after a study was carried out across Cameroon. 

It was done by a team of 30 investigators, 22 supervisors and two consultants, between April and June this year. 

According to Ndjib Simon Gabriel, the lead consultant of the project, the team, in the course of bringing fort the report, targeted associations engaged in promoting the donation of blood and those involved in health and blood bank promotion. 

It touched some 902 associations and groups, 60 of them being those involved in the donation of blood, 661specialising in the promotion of health and some 181 focusing on the promotion of blood banks.

DG says mapping puts transfusion centre on right path

Speaking in an interview shortly after the adaption of the report, the Director General of the National Blood Transfusion Centre, Prof Dora Ngum Shu, said the mapping work gives the institution a clearer view of the ground to be covered and the path to take.

According to the DG, the project gives the blood transfusion centre a view of the various blood donation associations and other health authorities that the institution can collaborate with to step up its efforts to ensure an effective nationwide campaign aimed at covering the over 60% deficit in the availability of blood. 

“This project has permitted us to understand what strategy we need to adopt to go on the field to ensure that our mission of collecting and ensuring that safe blood is available to the public is realized,” the Prof Ngum stated.

She noted that the work also highlights the need for the national centre to work on improving the human resources and material strength of the cited partner structures, including blood donation associations and health promotion teams that are now becoming official partners.

“The project has really opened our eyes to see what is available, what is lacking and to know how to go about in our efforts to strengthen our capacity and do all the necessary adjustments,” Prof Ngum Shu said.

Project solidifying Franco-Cameroonian cooperation

The compilation and validation of the mapping report comes two years since the French Embassy in Cameroon began working with the blood transfusion body in to enable the institution to cover up what currently shows over 60% of deficit in the quantity of blood supplied in the country.

Speaking during an interview, the regional adviser on global health at the French Embassy, Dr Dufourcq Jean Baptiste, said the newly-validated mapping report gives room for a highly-welcomed improvement in the sector as desired by both the Cameroonian and the French governments.

He said the French government is happy to have formally worked with the blood transfusion centre in the last two years notably through the provision of training for technical staffs and those of civil societies and other groups engaged in the efforts.

“Cameroon and France have a traditional collaboration that has lasted for a very long time. That is why in the last two years, we engaged on this mission through this formalisation process which include financially supporting the Cameroonian structure,” the French official stated. 

“This programme will really touch the entire Cameroon. It will accompany all the efforts made in the modernisation of the National Blood Transfusion Centre. For us and the French Embassy in Cameroon, it is a very important project in our collaboration in the field of health in general,” he added.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3180 of Friday July 26, 2024