Posted by Haagen P. Cumlet

The Rotary clubs in Mali - a landlocked country in French speaking Western Africa, District 9100 - are reflecting on their first major blood drive: During six days, the Rotary-organized campaign collected, in average, 60 bags of blood a day. "Never has an action of public health generated so much enthusiasm among Rotarians in Mali," Rosa Cisse, 2008-2009 President of Rotary Club Bamako Djoliba, recalls.

The week-long blood drive, in which all seven Malian Rotary clubs participated, was inspired by a blood drive, held in February 2009 by Rotary Club Bamako Djoliba, in connection with the Rotary Day, commemoration the founding of Rotary International. This blood drive had secured 80 bags of blood.

 

"We were thinking that we could do even better with a bigger involvement of Rotarians," Rosa Cisse says. The responsibility for organizing a campaign over six days was then placed in the hands of her club.

 

After several meetings of work and preparation, which took place in the National Center for Blood Transfusion (CNTS) "the caravan of collecting blood on behalf of Rotary had been born," the blood drive organizer explains.

 

The campaign group consisted of Rotary, the Mali Red Cross (CRM), the Association of the Voluntary Blood Donors of Mali, The Islamic Association of Blood Donors, CNTS and medical staff members from CNTS.

 

The blood drives were held in the city hall of six municipalities and took place from nine in the morning to one o'clock in the afternoon.

 

The week-long blood drive became "a beautiful action in the public interest," Rosa Cisse reminisces.

 

Each day, a truck from The National Center for Blood Transfusion would park on a big square to mobilize interest among the public to give blood. Representatives from all the participating organizations took part in this awareness drive.

 

In gratitude for their gift of life, Rotary gave the donors a beautiful shirt and a tombola lottery ticket.

 

The tombola prizes were sponsored by the Mali telecommunication company, Sotelma, with three winners all six days of the blood drive. Not surprisingly, with a mobile phone as the first prize each day.

 

"We had collected 360 bags of blood and felt a general satisfaction. The promise was then made to organize a blood drive again after the same pattern, but to increase the public awareness by making use of local radio and television", says Rosa Cisse, the chief organizer of Mali's first Rotary blood drives.

 

The lack of blood in Mali is dramatic. The demand is four times higher than the National Center of Blood Transfusion is able to collect. On average, 25,000 bags of donor blood are secured on a yearly bases; the estimated need is 100,000 bags of blood.

 

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Of the seven Rotary Clubs in Mali, the five are located in the capital Bamako. The number of Rotarians is about 200. District 9100   is composed of 14 West African countries: Benin, Burkina-Faso, Cape Verde (an island country in North Atlantic Ocean), Cote D'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. With the exception of Cape Verde, malaria is endemic in the countries where it represents 30 to 40 per cent of all serious illness and 10 per cent of all deaths. In addition, Mali is considered to be one of the poorest nations in the world, and with one of the world's highest rates of infant mortality. Mali is the seventh largest country in Africa. The population is estimated to about 13 million people, most of whom live in the southern part of the country. The nation's capital, Bamako, has more than a million residents.

 

 

Editor's note:

 

Go to the Photo Journals to see pictures.

 

Past President Rosa Cisse of Rotary Club Bamako Djoliba can be contacted at this e-mail address: rosa_cisse@yahoo.fr

 

Contact to the Association of Voluntary Blood Donors (National
Association des Donneurs de Sang Bénévoles du Mali):
 coordinateur M. Ibrahima Konate, e-mail konateiml@yahoo.fr .  

 

Contact to Rotarians Eleminating Malaria, a Rotarian Action Group (REMaRAG), click here

 

or:

Aissata Coulibaly, PAG, Coordinateur District 9100 Groupe D'Appui Santé & Faim  REMaRAG West Afrique Coordinateur Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoir, phone (225) 22 43 72 50 / 07 67 35 59, e-mail: aisscoul@yahoo.fr