SANBS calls on South Africans to donate blood this Mandela Day
The South African National Blood Service says a few minutes of generosity can provide someone with another chance at recovery and another tomorrow.
Citizens across the country are called on to make a difference every Mandela Day, and their 67 minutes could leave a legacy of hope by helping save up to three lives.
This Mandela Day, the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) is inviting South Africans to transform a simple act of generosity into a lifetime of impact by donating blood.
According to SANBS senior manager of donor relations, Monique Schreiner, unlike many acts of service, the impact of a blood donation doesn’t end when you leave the donor centre.
“It continues in emergency rooms, operating theatres, maternity wards and hospital beds across the country, where donated blood gives someone another chance to recover, celebrate another milestone and experience another tomorrow. Every lifesaving blood transfusion begins with one person making one simple decision: To show up,” Schreiner said.
She added that SANBS is encouraging everyone, especially first-time donors, to become part of a community of everyday heroes whose generosity gives strangers a second chance at life.
“Whether you have donated before or have always wondered if you should, Mandela Day is the perfect opportunity to take that first step. The donation process is safe, simple and takes less than 67 minutes from start to finish. Yet those minutes could mean a lifetime for someone else,” Schreiner continued.
She added that Nelson Mandela believed each of us has the power to make a meaningful difference through service.
“Blood donors live that legacy every day – not for recognition or reward, but because they understand that, somewhere, someone is depending on the kindness of a stranger.”
Minimum requirements to be a blood donor:
• Be between 16 and 75 years old (for first-time donors)
• Weigh at least 50kg (55kg to donate platelets)
• Be in good health
• Lead a low-risk lifestyle
• Consider your blood safe for transfusion
• Have eaten a meal within four hours before donating
• Have not donated whole blood within the last 56 days (or platelets or plasma within the last 14 days)
• Have a pulse between 60 and 100 beats per minute
• Have a blood pressure between 100 and 180 systolic (first number) and between 60 and 100 diastolic (second number)
• Have a haemoglobin level of 12.0 g/dl or above for females and 13.0 g/dl or above for males
To find out where to donate or learn more about blood donation, click here.
