So, heads up! This is not a tech or business article. This is Techzim sharing its experiences with this valuable community. We hope you all can contribute in some way to meeting the need for blood if not by donating, then perhaps by making this a conversation in all places you have conversation.
Alex, a member of the Techzim team suggested we go to National Blood Services Zimbabwe (NBSZ). She is a regular blood donor and she is passionate about the issue. We tried to convince her not do it, at least not now while there is the scare of an unprecedented pandemic. Her counter argument was strong: the need for blood doesn’t go away because there’s a pandemic, in fact it increases.
So, yesterday we went to the NBSZ, all of us except team members who work from other cities. They took us through the whole process that blood goes through under their roof from the moment a blood donor walks through the door up to the point blood is dispatched to a needy person who has requested for it through their doctor. Below are some photos to share with you our community:
Social distancing was not quite right there too…
The serious need
What we learned is that right now the NBSZ has blood enough for just 3 days. They need all the donors they can get. We didn’t know that some of the blood products can only be kept for just 7 days! That means they need regular donors even if by some miracle no one needed any blood in a long stretch of time.
COVID 19 makes things worse
The already limited amount of blood donated has seen a dip due to COVID 19 and its associated lockdowns. NBSZ usually gets a lot of donations from schools, churches, factories etc. With these places closed they kinda rely on walk ins alone at the moment.
If you prefer to skip through the hour long video we took of our whole visit, we got you! You can watch and add to your conversation with people around you:
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