Safe Blood Starts with Me - libdoc.who.int - World Health Organization

ANNEX 1Pledge 25—A blood donor club with a differenceZimbabwe’s youth realized thattheir future was in their ownhands. This is why, some yearsago, a project was launched byyouth themselves which hassignificantly contributed to thesuccess of the nation’s safeblood supply. The project,already being emulated inneighbouring countries, iscalled “Pledge 25”.HIV caused Blood TransfusionServices across the world to rethinkseriously their blood donor“… and we have about1,000 Pledge 25 Club memberswho have already reachedtheir certificate, so that’show successful theprogramme has been”.Dr T.J. StampsMinister of Health and Child Welfare,Zimbabwe during an interview forWorld Health Day 2000 onSafe Blood Starts With Merecruitment strategies and, in 1989,Zimbabwe started targeting an as yetuntapped pool of low-risk donors:school-children aged 16-19. However,history proved that—successful asthe programme was—most schoolblood donors ceased to donateregularly upon leaving school. ThePledge 25 Club was therefore createdby and for school leavers, who pledgeto make at least 25 donations ofblood. Members also actively shareinformation and knowledge with othercurrent and prospective donors and,in this way, help to promote healthylifestyles, and reduce the level of HIVprevalence in peer groups and theamount of infected blood collected.Club members were honoured onWorld Health Day in April 2000, andthe first group of Club members hadtheir graduation ceremony—to marktheir 25th donation—at the AnnualGeneral Meeting of the National BloodTransfusion Service (NBTS) on6 September 2000. Many of thepioneers are considering theformation of a “Pledge 50” division.to ensure the running of their affairs.Selected Peer Donor Promoters nowassist the NBTS with the recruitmentof voluntary, non-remunerated,regular donors from low-risk groupsand in turn, the NBTS supervises andcounsels the Club.It is critical to reiterate the selfmotivatedcommitment of the pupilsthemselves that has led to a windowof hope for the national blood bank. Itis thanks to the students, whoinstituted a National Youth BloodDonors Day, that the availability ofsafe blood at peak times of the yearsuch as Christmas, has gone from50% to 80% and is still rising. Other% HIV +ve unitsHIV rates in donated blood (1989–1999)54321The Club elects national and0provincial administrative committees 1989 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99statistics speak for themselves: HIVsero positivity among blood donorshas fallen from an average of 4.45%in 1989 to 0.7% in 1999 (comparedto sero prevalence in the sexuallyactive population in general: 25.8%);99.3% of all blood collected in 1999was HIV-negative; and nearly 70% ofthe 82,365 units collected in thissame year were donated by pupils. ▲For more information, contact:The National Blood TransfusionServiceHarare, ZimbabweE-mail: zimnbts@africaonline.co.zw117 ▲ WORLD HEALTH DAY ▼ SAFE BLOOD STARTS WITH ME