NBSA Unveils Digital Blood Tracking System to Tackle Shortage in Nigeria
The National Blood Service Agency (NBSA) has unveiled a nationwide strategy to address Nigeria’s persistent blood supply shortage through digital tracking, stricter regulation of blood banks, improved hospital coordination and sustained public awareness campaigns to encourage voluntary blood donation.
The initiative, which seeks to ensure the availability of safe blood during medical emergencies, will introduce electronic monitoring of blood supplies from donation to transfusion, strengthen quality assurance and expand the training of healthcare professionals.
The roadmap was presented on Saturday in Abuja during a media roundtable on voluntary blood donation, organised by the NBSA in collaboration with the International Society of Media in Public Health (ISMPH).
The event, held under the National Voluntary Blood Donation Awareness Campaign, featured the theme, “Your Blood, A Lifeline,” with the slogan, “Donate Blood Today and Save More Lives.”
A major highlight was the inauguration of the Media Cell for Safe Blood, a permanent communication platform established to promote accurate public information, coordinate media coverage of blood donation activities and support awareness campaigns ahead of National Blood Donor Day on December 8 and World Blood Donor Day on June 14.
Presenting the agency’s intervention strategy, the Coordinator of the NBSA Centre in Abuja, Ali Waziri, who represented the Director-General, Professor Saleh Yuguda, disclosed that the agency was introducing a National Blood Management System (NBMS) to digitalise the country’s blood supply chain.
Waziri explained that the electronic platform would enable authorities to track individual units of blood from donors to recipients, monitor nationwide donations through a central dashboard and trace blood products whenever adverse transfusion reactions occur.
“So we want to take it a step further so that we will be able to track each and every unit. This is the only way we will be able to do it appropriately. It will give us a dashboard where we will be able to see at a go the total units of blood that have been donated across the country,” he said.
According to him, the initiative is designed to address longstanding weaknesses in blood collection, storage, distribution and accountability while improving the capacity of health facilities to respond to emergencies.
He disclosed that the agency was also strengthening the registration and auditing of public and private blood banks to ensure compliance with established safety standards.
Under the proposed hospital linkage arrangement, healthcare facilities will forecast their blood requirements and submit requests directly to the NBSA, reducing the need for patients’ relatives to search independently for blood supplies.
Waziri expressed concern over the practice of individuals collecting blood in personal coolers, warning that improper transportation and storage could compromise blood safety.
“This is what we are trying to avoid now — for individuals to come on their own to the national blood service centres with coolers to collect blood. The blood needs to be kept in a cold chain, at a specific temperature. That is why we are pushing towards hospital linkages,” he explained.
He said the agency was equally strengthening haemovigilance, a system for monitoring, reporting and investigating adverse reactions associated with blood transfusion, to improve patient safety and accountability.
As part of the ongoing Safe Blood Project, supported by international partners, Waziri disclosed that personnel from 30 institutions had received training in safe blood donation procedures and the appropriate clinical use of blood.
He added that auditors had also been trained to assess transfusion practices in participating hospitals and monitor improvements in compliance with established procedures.
“They agree that they should be audited and they are ready to be part of the Safe Blood Project. We give them training on basic transfusion and clinical practices, and subsequently we go back to auditing so that we will be able to see attitudinal change,” he said.
The NBSA official further revealed that the agency was establishing a technical committee to explore stem cell and cord blood banking as part of efforts to expand Nigeria’s capacity for specialised medical treatment.
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He explained that the proposed initiative would involve developing a registry of stem cell donors and exploring the collection and preservation of cord blood for transplantation and emerging cell-based therapies, including potential applications in cancer treatment.
On the country’s blood supply deficit, Waziri disclosed that the NBSA currently operates 17 centres across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, but the volume of blood collected remains significantly below national requirements.
He said the agency generates approximately 25,000 units of blood, compared with the much larger supply required to meet the needs of a population exceeding 200 million.
He cited a benchmark equivalent to blood donations from at least two per cent of the population, underscoring the need to expand the country’s pool of regular voluntary donors.
Waziri also advocated the inclusion of blood provision in sustainable healthcare financing arrangements, particularly through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) and other funding mechanisms.
He argued that making safe blood available to patients without direct payment at the point of care would reduce the financial burden on families and encourage wider public participation in voluntary donation.
Speaking on the role of the media, the Executive Director of ISMPH, Moji Makanjuola, emphasised that sustained public education and accurate reporting were essential to overcoming misconceptions that discourage Nigerians from donating blood.
The veteran journalist said misinformation, cultural beliefs and unfounded fears about the health implications of blood donation continued to undermine public confidence in the blood supply system.
She urged journalists and media organisations to work closely with medical professionals to explain blood donation procedures, safety measures and the importance of regular voluntary donation.
Makanjuola noted that donated blood undergoes screening for transfusion-transmissible infections, including HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis, as part of established safety protocols.
She also called for greater public enlightenment to address misconceptions that donating blood causes infertility, permanent weakness or other serious health complications.
“The media helps to correct these misconceptions by sharing accurate information from healthcare professionals and blood transfusion experts. Blood donation is an act of kindness, humanity and common responsibility,” she said.
Makanjuola stressed that effective communication should go beyond occasional awareness events to build lasting public trust, encourage responsible donation habits and reinforce the understanding that safe blood is essential to healthcare delivery.
Providing details of the campaign’s implementation strategy, the Programme Manager of ISMPH, Samiru Isah, disclosed that the initiative would deploy creative content, mass media, digital and print platforms, as well as community engagement activities to reach diverse audiences.
He announced that a 13-episode radio drama series titled “The Gift of Life,” with each episode lasting 15 minutes, had already been produced in English.
According to him, the drama will be adapted into Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and Nigerian Pidgin to ensure wider accessibility and cultural relevance.
Isah explained that the series would use relatable characters and emotionally engaging storytelling to promote voluntary blood donation through messages of hope, compassion and shared responsibility rather than fear.
He added that short radio jingles were being developed in five languages, alongside television and radio programmes, expert interviews, interactive phone-in sessions, infographics and digital awareness materials.
The campaign will also include rapid responses to misinformation circulating on social media, particularly false claims capable of discouraging potential donors.
“The key message is that voluntary blood donation is a safe, selfless and lifesaving act. When you donate your blood, you give someone the opportunity to live,” Isah said.
The NBSA and ISMPH expressed optimism that combining digital innovation, stronger regulatory oversight, improved hospital coordination and sustained media engagement would help expand voluntary blood donation and improve access to safe blood across Nigeria.
The initiative is expected to strengthen emergency preparedness and support healthcare facilities treating accident victims, women experiencing childbirth complications, surgical patients and individuals requiring regular blood transfusions.
By PRNigeria
