The Lagos State Government has launched a grassroots campaign to promote voluntary blood donation as a regular lifestyle.
The campaign, targeting 10 local government areas, is expected to boost awareness and improve access to safe blood for emergencies and routine medical needs.
The Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service (LSBTS) began the awareness drive yesterday with an advocacy walk and sensitisation exercise at Jubilee Bridge and Jubilee Market in Ajah, Eti-Osa Local Government Area. It urged eligible residents to donate regularly rather than wait until relatives or friends had emergencies.
LSBTS Executive Secretary, Dr Bodunrin Osikomaiya, said the Eti-Osa exercise marked the start of a wider advocacy programme that would extend to Ojo, Ibeju-Lekki, Badagry, Epe and Lagos Island, among other areas.
She said the campaign seeks to change public attitudes towards blood donation, encouraging residents to make it a regular habit to guarantee the availability of safe blood during emergencies.
Residents can donate through mobile blood units stationed at campaign locations, or at designated government hospitals, she explained.
Osikomaiya said access to safe, readily available blood was critical to saving lives during emergencies, surgeries, childbirth complications and other conditions requiring urgent transfusion.
She commended the Lagos State Government for funding, staffing and providing logistics to strengthen the state’s blood supply system.
She also visited the Maternal and Child Centre (MCC), Eti-Osa, where she presented blood collection supplies, including blood bags, gloves, sample bottles, donor forms, information materials and voluntary blood donation cards, to support the facility’s transfusion services.
She explained that cardholders would receive blood without out-of-pocket payment, describing it as an incentive for regular voluntary donation.
MCC Eti-Osa Medical Director, Dr Olufemi Aletan, said the facility’s collaboration with LSBTS had reinforced the importance of ensuring blood and blood products were readily available, particularly for pregnant women and patients experiencing severe bleeding. He recalled cases requiring fresh frozen plasma where timely access made the difference between life and death.
Aletan said the facility was working towards an independent blood bank and urged husbands of pregnant women and other eligible residents to donate regularly, noting that blood availability was essential to safe antenatal care and childbirth.
Some donors shared their experiences to encourage others to overcome fear and misconceptions about blood donation. A 13-time donor, Olawale Alaba, urged eligible Nigerians to donate every three months, describing it as a simple act that saves lives. Taiwo Abifarin, a two-time donor, said he gives blood as a practical way of giving back to society.
First-time donors, including Abdullahi Mohammed, Rabiu Abiodun and Gbadamosi Sulaiman, also called on residents to overcome their fears and embrace voluntary donation. Sulaiman, recalling that his child once needed blood, said the experience strengthened his conviction that donating was a civic responsibility.
LSBTS said the campaign would continue in other local government areas as part of efforts to build a culture of voluntary, regular, non-remunerated blood donation in Lagos, and to reduce dependence on emergency replacement donations.