30-day awareness campaign on sickle cell and blood donation

PoH engaged the Sickle Cell Awareness month (September 2022) with sensitisation messages on blood donation.

Thanks to the support of NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), the organisation joined in the campaign for ethnically matched blood to provide relief for sickle cell warriors. According to the NHS there is an urgent need for more black blood heroes, “A record 250 blood donations are now needed every day to treat people with sickle cell.” – NHSBT.  

Black Africans and other minorities are currently quite reluctant to give blood hence fewer blood donors from the BAME community. Unfortunately, sickle cell sufferers who are mostly black Africans badly need ethnically matched blood with peculiarities like the RO blood subtype found in people of black African heritage. So, team PoH went all out to encourage Black Africans and other ethnic minorities to donate blood and save the lives of sickle cell sufferers.

They also created awareness about the new, more inclusive, and safer blood donation rules announced by NHSBT. These rules were mostly with regards to the donors’ sexual partners and sexual orientation which previously excluded them from giving blood.