ONE LOVE ONE BLOOD SAVES LIVES

Dapo Odumeru PhDFounder – Blood for Life

Regional QA Manager – NHSBT

BLOOD FOR LIFE

• The NHS needs 7,000 units of blood every day to be used for a wide range of reasons.

• Blood supplies vital for emergency treatment for example after road accidents, for surgery, to treat cancer patients or childbirth complications.

• Blood is needed every three seconds to save or improve lives

Blood

Anaemia 23%

Orthopaedics 14%

Haematology 15%

Gastro intestinal bleeding 11%

General surgery 10%

WHO NEEDS BLOOD?

How many units get used?

- Open heart surgery = 2-8 red cell units, 6 platelet units

- Car accident = 4-40 red cell units

• The Jamaican and Caribbean communities are being urged to step-forward as the next generation of blood donors in a drive to boost life-saving supplies.

• NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) wants to recruit 7,000 new donors from these communities by 2020

• 1,000 new donors over the next year

• 7,000 over the next five years

The Challenge

CAN YOU DONATE? (MYTHS)

“I could die as a result of donation”

“I might catch something”

“You don’t want my blood”

“You experiment on our blood”

“It hurts”!

“I ALWAYS faint”!

“I smoke and drink alcohol”

• Donations of rare blood types are more common among black communities. Specific blood groups, like U negative, only found amongst people of Jamaican and Caribbean descent.

• Conditions like Sickle Cell Anaemia that require regular blood transfusions are more prevalent amongst people of Jamaican and Caribbean descent.  

• Sickle cell anaemia is an inherited genetic condition which is prevalent among Jamaican and Caribbean and mixed-race people

Why Jamaican and Caribbean Donors

• People from the same ethnic backgrounds often share the same blood types, so recruiting more Jamaican and Caribbean donors helps to collect enough of each blood group

• Blood is needed every three seconds to save or improve lives yet only one percent of blood donors are from our community

Why Jamaican and Caribbean Donors

Statistics UK

• Black, African and Caribbean people make up just 0.6% of active blood donors despite representing 4.4% of England’s population

• 4% of our blood donors who have donated blood in the last two years are from Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic communities. This is compared to Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic communities representing around 14% of the population.

• Recent estimates put the BME population at 20% of the total UK population by 2050.

White Mixed South Asian African & Caribbean Chinese Any Other Group

Statistics

Ethnicity description

Number of active donors

Proportion of active donors

2011 Census representation (England only)

Black - Caribbean

4512 0.4% 1.5%

Black – African 2463 0.2% 1.8%

Mixed – W + B Caribbean

4144 0.3% 0.8%

Mixed – W + B African

1286 0.1% 0.6%

We need more

From the Jamaican and Caribbean Communities

blooddonors

From the Community

For the Community

Visit Blood.co.uk for more information

We Need Blood:

Save a life- Give blood

please don’t leave it to someone else

NHSBT Facts

• NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is a joint England and Wales Special Health Authority.

• www.blood.co.uk

• NHSBT s donor line - 0300 123 23 23 - is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week with all calls charged at the standard local rate, even from mobile phones

• NHSBT collects 1.8 million units of blood each year from over 23,000 blood donation sessions in more than 3,000 venues

• A unit of blood is measured as 470mls (or just under a pint)

• There are four main blood groups O, A, B and AB.

• Group O is the most common and therefore the most in demand.

• A regular supply of blood is vital red cells last 35 days and platelets only 7 days

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

Any Questions?