More blood donors needed to save moms

Ten mothers die everyday because of lack of access to safe blood, prompting the health department to call for more “unpaid and selfless” donors to ensure a regular and adequate supply of safe blood in the country.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque said a quarter of these unnecessary deaths of pregnant women due to hemorrhage could have been averted if they had access to safe blood transfusion.

“In such situation, we see that blood donors play a vital role in saving the lives of thousands of mothers and their newborn,” Duque said in a press conference yesterday in Quezon City.

He especially urged the youth to become regular blood donors “so that mothers who have just given birth and who may need blood will have an assured supply.”

Duque made the appeal in line with the celebration of World Blood Donor Day on June 14 with the theme “Safe Blood for Safe Motherhood.”

The Department of Health (DOH) is targeting one percent of the total population to join its national voluntary force of donors in order to gather 850, 000 units of blood per year.

However, to date, only half a million units have been collected which leads to a gross imbalance between the supply and demand for safe blood for needy recipients, the DOH said.

Data from the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) show that in 1993, the maternal mortality rate (MMR) was 209 per 100,000 live births.

It went down to 162 per 100,000 live births in the 2006 Family Planning Survey, Duque said.

“This means that we were able to lower the MMR by 22 percent in 13 years, a long way off our midterm development goal of improving the health of the country’s mothers by reducing the MMR to just 52 per 100,000 live births by 2015,” he said.

To address the high MMR, the DOH is implementing its “Safe Motherhood Program” with various strategies and activities aimed at reducing the incidence of MMR in the country.

Duque said the Philippines is one of the countries in Southeast Asia with high MMR.

Meanwhile, Duque said more commercial blood banks (CBBs) located in the National Capital Region and Region 4-A (Southern Tagalog) are scheduled to be closed this year.

Duque said nine CBBs in Central Luzon and CALABARZON (Calamba, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) will soon be closing down.