Kigali: On Wednesday, March 20, the U.S. Embassy in Rwanda, in collaboration with Rwanda’s National Centre for Blood Transfusion, launched the U.S. Embassy’s tenth blood drive. A total of 108 U.S. Embassy community members and colleagues from other diplomatic missions donated blood in support of the National Centre for Blood Transfusion.
“I am proud of our Embassy team for giving blood so generously – it is an easy way to help save a life. I hope that our blood drive encourages everyone in Rwanda to start donating blood,” said Chargé d’affaires Richard Michaels, launching the “Share Life, Give Blood” donation event.
The U.S. Embassy’s blood donation initiative has seen consistent growth in the number of donors since the first event in 2012, with a total 736 units of blood contribution to National Centre for Blood Transfusion to date. This year, the U.S. Embassy also invited other members of the diplomatic corps in Kigali to join in the event for the first time and British, French, and German diplomats visited the U.S. Embassy to give blood.
A key goal of the tenth Embassy blood drive is to support the National Centre for Blood Transfusion in its campaign to increase Rwanda’s blood supply, especially through educating the general population in Rwanda on the importance of voluntary donation.
The U.S. Embassy and the National Centre for Blood Transfusion aim to encourage younger people, who might be nervous or unsure about giving blood, to visit the National Center for Blood Transfusion near Serena Hotel and start donating so that the donor population does not decline. It is also important to encourage current blood donors to make regular donations, in order to ensure both the quantity and quality of blood stockpiles.
The blood donated Wednesday will be used to save lives of trauma victims, surgical patients, and patients with life-threatening blood diseases in Rwanda. Some of the donated blood will almost certainly be delivered to those in need by an innovating U.S. startup, Zipline, which has partnered with the Rwandan government to launch the world’s first commercial drone delivery service, ferrying vital medical supplies to remote hospitals by air. “Share Life, Give Blood”. (End)