Blood Bank Regional Director Dr. Masiku Phiri says blood is a very essential commodity in the management and treatment of various health conditions.

Dr. Phiri says donating blood saves lives adding that without blood many people with various health conditions would be lost.

He was speaking in an interview in Kitwe. Dr. Phiri said pregnant women need fifty percent blood at different stages during pregnancy. He said children under the age of five with severe malaria, sickle cell, and cancer patients need blood to manage and heal the conditions.

“The beneficiaries of blood include pregnant women, children with severe malaria, people with sickle cell anemia, and patients with cancer.” He said. (photo of NTH doctors donating blood