BUJUMBURA March 13th (ABP) – Pathfinder International in collaboration with the national blood transfusion center (CNTS) and partner associations including action for peace and community development (APADECO), organized on Friday March 10, 2023, in Bujumbura, a blood donation Day and the official launch of a digital application for monitoring blood stocks and rapid assistance in the event of a blood transfusion, as part of International Women’s Day.
According to the country director of Pathfinder Burundi, Dr Iréné Ndabagiye, maternal health is one of the major areas of intervention in many countries. He said that by organizing the blood donation activity, they wanted to respond to a local challenge, pointing out that national statistics show that they have many maternal deaths and for the most part due to the lack of blood.
According to Dr. Ndabagiye, the day was an opportunity for Pathfinder Burundi to launch a digital application that will allow the country to know when to alert especially when blood stocks are decreasing. The digital application of Pathfinder Burundi will also help in the speed of relief in practice, to write alert messages and to have relief in real time, explaining that it has been found that relief takes a lot of time and women’s lives are lost especially during childbirth.
For his part, the technical director of the CNTS, Mr. Isaac Minani, said that hemorrhage in pregnant women is one of the most important causes of maternal mortality. The CNTS and its partners, whatever the technical and financial aspects, must, in fact, mobilize the people to donate blood, in order to avoid problems linked to its lack, specifying that currently, the blood is in sufficient quantity at the level of the CNTS. He took the opportunity to thank all the partners who support in the blood transfusion, arguing that in the past years, there was blood rupture linked to the lack of materials and the lack of awareness because people did not respond to the act massively.
According to the legal representative of APADECO, Me Fabien Bimenyimana, donated blood is a medicine like so many others that the country must make available at the level of the Ministry of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS.