SANBS on the hunt for new blood on Human Rights Day

In his inaugural address as president, Cyril Ramaphosa urged South Africans to become agents of change.

What better way to become an agent of change than by being a blood donor on Human Rights Day?

The South African National Blood Service (SANBS) is implementing a mass blood drive on March 21, to recruit new donors and to ensure there is sufficient safe blood available in South Africa. The #NewBlood campaign is targeting the collection of 4 500 units of blood on the public holiday. The SANBS is especially calling on first-time donors and lapsed donors, who know that their blood type is Group O, to donate.

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“Currently, fewer than one per cent of South Africans donate blood even though it demands little more than giving up 30 minutes of their time at least twice a year,” said Silungile Mlambo, the chief marketing officer for the SANBS. “That means we often experience shortages which then place lives at risk. These risks include the lives of babies born prematurely, the lives of accident victims, the lives of women giving birth and the lives of people fighting cancer,” she said.

“We are therefore calling on anyone who has never donated or has not donated in over a year, to heed President Ramaphosa’s plea to become an agent of change and lend a hand by becoming a blood donor, starting on Human Rights Day,” said Silungile. She said SANBS will host blood drives around the country to collect the blood, including in Vilakazi Street, which was once home to Nobel peace prize laureates President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

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“The beauty of donating blood is that virtually anyone can do it. You don’t need to have money or live in a fancy house or have a graduate degree or a fancy car. If you’re over 16 years old, weigh over 50 kilograms and practise a healthy lifestyle, you can be a blood donor. By giving blood you can save up to three people’s lives and so something that costs you nothing, becomes absolutely priceless to someone in need of blood. Nobody can make a greater impact than saving someone else’s life,” she said. She said that the SANBS will be launching the #NewBlood campaign on Human Rights Day because it signals the start of the Easter holiday period.

“Holidays are, unfortunately, the time when we traditionally run short of blood because we are not able to host our regular drives at schools and university campuses. But this year, the SANBS wants to start turning things around. We want to lend a hand, as President Ramaphosa asked us to do, and ensure that there is enough safe blood available in the country. The #NewBlood campaign is asking you to lend us a hand by becoming a regular blood donor,” said Silungile.

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She appealed to regular donors to spread the message and get new and lapsed donors – especially those with blood type O -the most common type of blood in South Africa, to donate.

“We are ever grateful to our regular hero donors without whom we would not exist. We thank them for their continued donations but ask that they help us further by becoming ambassadors for blood donation. Tell first-time and lapsed donors how it feels to be a hero just by donating blood. We would appreciate it if they could help us save even more lives,” she added.

First-time donors must produce proof of identification.

Visit www.sanbs.org.za or call 0800 11 90 31 to find out where to donate on Human Rights Day.