Many young people are devoting themselves more and more to this activity which helps to relieve the sick in health facilities in the region. Organized in association or on their own, the latter attend the blood bank of the regional hospital of Ngaoundéré, the main structure which houses the largest blood bank in the region.
Long considered to be the activity of a certain category of people or relatives of the sick, many people already understand the importance of the culture of donating blood to save lives in hospitals. Young people in particular have become aware of the importance of this activity which can save patients in need of this precious liquid. This undermines the influence of beliefs surrounding blood donation.
“I am here to donate my blood. It could be my brother, my sister, my father or my mother who is in need. Whenever I have the opportunity, I will not hesitate for a moment to help the sick in health facilities, ”says Aron, met when leaving the blood bank of the regional hospital in Ngaoundéré. Associations working in this direction are multiplying in the city. In Ngaoundéré for example, two associations stand out in this fight for voluntary blood donation. They are Arewa Medicare and SOS Don de Sang.
“A few years ago I witnessed a scene that left me speechless. I arrived at the regional hospital in Ngaoundéré for routine checkups, but found a family with a child with severe anemia but no family member was ready to donate blood. I had to come to the aid of the child’s family so that he could be saved, but it was late and the child died ”, testifies Edith, a resident of Ngaoundéré.
And Abdel Kader of the Arewa Medicare Association added, “We know that many of our brothers are reluctant to donate blood. We are committed to going door-to-door in order to convince the majority of the population of the city of Ngaoundéré to donate blood. It is very important to donate blood, it saves others and also rejuvenates their cells ”.
In the first week of last December, the SOS Don de Sang association led a campaign in this direction on social networks and face-to-face by inviting young people to sacrifice their time and give some of their blood to help relieve the sorrows of the sick.
“We organized a blood donation campaign last year at the blood bank to support patients in need, but there is a certain reluctance of the populations. The few donors are those who have in one way or another been the victim of a lack of blood at some point in their life, ”explains Tertulien Eto, student in biomedical sciences at the University of Ngaoundéré and member. of the SOS Don de Sang association.
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