By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The chief executive of SUNU Health Nigeria Limited, Dr Patrick Korie, has emphasised the importance of investing in the health of children by providing them with access to medical care to shape their future.

According to him, every parent has a critical role to play in ensuring their children enjoy healthy lives through active health coverage.

“Children deserve a healthy start in life, and this can be achieved by investing in their health. We are not only safeguarding their future but also contributing to the overall well-being of our society.

“As a healthcare expert, I understand the importance of access to quality medical care in shaping the future of children,” he said as the world marked Children’s Day on May 27.

He charged parents to prioritise their children’s health and wellbeing, noting that health insurance offers families financial protection against unforeseen medical expenses.

He submitted that with active health insurance coverage, parents can rest assured that their children will receive the medical attention they need without breaking the bank, stating this is particularly crucial for children who are more vulnerable to illnesses and require prompt medical attention.

As part of SUNU Health’s commitment to promoting healthcare awareness, the company is dedicated to providing innovative health insurance solutions that cater to the unique needs of families.

He called on well-meaning Nigerians to contribute to the welfare of vulnerable children by supporting foundations that cater for children welfarism.

Dr Korie’s advocacy for children’s health is a testament to the company’s mission of making quality healthcare accessible to all Nigerians at cost effective rate.

In celebration of Children’s Day, SUNU Health Nigeria Limited has partnered with Cute Kids Haven Foundation for at least three years, giving children a colourful celebration.

By Saifullahi Attahir

I’m sure once in your life time have experienced or had one of your acquittances received a unit of blood. But have we ever gave a second thought about how this integral part of healthcare system in Nigeria is managed? In this article, I would give the reader a glimpse into this sector due to it’s importance, and some comparison of how it’s manage in other advanced countries.

Blood transfusion was a century old medical practice developed around 1900 by a scientist called Carl landstener, despite several attempts by contemporary scientists before him to devise a means to replace loss of blood encountered by patients either during surgical operations, accidents, or child birth.

Landstener was able to perpect the art of blood transfusion through discovery of major blood groups (ABO, and Rhesus) that played role in matching donor and recipients. Since then, there was continued effort toward safe blood transfusion services across the globe which massively lead to the decline in mortality rate associated with decrease blood supply in the body.

In Nigeria, blood transfusion services was practiced since the colonial-post colonial period mostly starting in Lagos and major urban centres. The major breakthrough was when the National blood transfusion services was established in 2005 during President Obasanjo. The National Health act of 2014 lead to the passage of National blood service Agency bill in 29th /July/ 2021.

According to the NBSA (www.nbsc.gov.ng) site, there was 17 voluntary blood donation centers across the 6 geopolitical zones of Nigeria including separate centers in Federal Capital Abuja, and other centers within the Arm Forces/ Military hospitals. National blood donation day is celebrated every 8th of December, and World safe donation day celebrated every 14th, June.

Nigeria has a population of over 200 million people, and without saying, our demand for blood donation was staggering looking at the number of road traffic accidents, obstetrics patients, major surgical procedures, under 5 years malarial and Schistosomial infections. This is apart from anaemic conditions due to malnutrition (Iron deficiency), other tropical diseases, Chronic Kidney Diseases, abnormal menstruation, and burns.

With all the above mention reasons, our data regarding blood transfusion services was reprehensible.

Several factors have lead to that including community neglect, lack of government intervention, lack of standard private practices, cultural influences, poor funding, and the Almighty mismanagement of resources.

About 1,230, 000 (one million, two hundred and thirty thousand) units/pints of blood are collected annually across Nigeria healthcare facilities, but unfortunately about 90% of this donations are paid commercials. Only 25,000 units are donated by volunteers that are made available to 3,400 hospitals urgent request! This simply shows that less than 5% of blood donation in Nigeria is voluntary.

Let me highlight four different forms of donations practiced worldwide;

* There was voluntary donation done by individuals just for the sake of humanity with no ulterior motive.

*There was direct/replacement donation usually done by relatives of a patients that are called in times of emergency. This one is hugely practice in Nigeria to about 75% in public hospitals.

* There was paid commercial donations in which donors give blood and collect money for it. This practice in Nigeria constitute about 25% in public hospitals and about 75% in some private clinics. This practice carried the major risk of transmitting transfusion-transmitted infections like HIV, Hepatitis B, and C.

* There was the autologous transfusion in which individual give his own blood prior to some surgical operations where the blood is stored, and later transfused back to him. This procedure has the least risk of transmitting infection and eliciting blood transfusion reactions.

Among the four blood transfusion methods, the two most widely practiced in Nigeria are the replacement and the paid commercial. People only care to donate blood when they knew their relatives are in need. This practice was commoner in our society from the villages to the urban. You could donate as soon as you know it’s your parents, wife, son, sister, brother or friend. Any other person can go to hell!

The worst form of practice is the commercial one, where people either out of ignorance or artificial poverty volunteer to donate only if they are going to be paid for it. This business triggers every form of atrocities where the donors sometimes donate multiple times within a short period of time ( The standard is at least an interval of 4-6 months, depending on age, gender, and social status).

The paid donors carries the highest risk of transmitting infections and other abnormalities either to themselves or to the recipients. So this practice need to be discourage by the healthcare personnels and the Government.
As an insider, and with my little period of practice, I have come to realized some of the difficulties blood transfusion services encountered in our health care facilities.

Shortage of blood units

There was the problem of blood supply shortage, this is evident from how Doctors/Lab personnel always advised patient relatives to go home and mobilized their kinsmen when a patient was in need of blood. This happens as if it were the standard thing to do. The ideal is for a patient to be transfused blood from the pool of blood bank regardless of bringing replacement or not. But this can only happens if their was enough units stored in the blood bank, and in most cases their was non.

I have personally witnesses several cases where a patient can almost loose his/her life their donors travelling many kilometers only to be rejected due to mismatch. Imagine the money and time wasted! The blame is not on the healthcare personnel, nor on the government alone, the blame is on the system and our society at large. We are lacking altruism.

This problem can be attributed to the lack of decentralised system of blood banking we operate in Nigeria.
Nigeria has a single National blood donation system. While in places like US, procurement of blood is majorly met by volunteers, they have a pluralistic blood collection programs by ( Red cross, independent community blood centres,and hospitals).

In the US, 15 million units of blood are collected from 10 million donors annually, and only 7% are collected in hospitals, and 93% in regional centres, unlike Nigeria where most of the collection are done in hospitals.

In the US, the blood collection, processing, testing,and preservation are regulated by the FDA. They operated a sharing system where by blood units can be transferred from a region with less demand and higher collection to a region with more demand.

Blood transfusion data

Nigeria has a blood collection data problem, many hospitals especially in the rural areas can not keep the record consistently for a year. This problem can be attributed to the manual (pen and paper) system of health records we are still operating in Nigeria, which is subject to error, missing, or manipulation. Without proper blood collection data it would be difficult to alleviate problem of shortage, and implementation.

Lack of Awareness

A recent data has shown how blood donation is directly proportional to development; in developed countries, 50 units of blood are donated in every 1000 population. In developing countries, 15 units of blood are donated in every 1000 population. While in under developed countries, only 5 units of blood are donated in every 1000 population.

In under developed and developing countries, limited storage facilities, lack of incentives, malnutrition, personal wellbeing,and lack of knowledge can be a contributing factor to low turnout of voluntary blood donation. It’s more likely for a high income University graduate to donate blood voluntarily than a less educated poor labourer. The former might be healthier, more mentally stable, and more aware on the need to donate.

Expertise and Procurement Facilities

The current improvement in blood donation service especially in the tropics can be attributed to the benevolent funding by the US through USAID and President Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Since 2000, there was continued efficiency in transfusion services in Nigeria, thanks to the aforementioned Agencies.

Despite this improvement, there was still problems of procedures, staff proficiency, specific testing,and preparation of separate blood components ( like plasma derivatives, platelets, and white blood cells).

Our screening methods are still qualitative immuno-phenotyping, we are using 4th generation ELISA ( Enzyme linked immunosorbent Assay), and no Nuclear Amplification Technique (NAT ) testing yet.

In 2018, I attended a two weeks training in Abuja organized by the University of Maryland experts under the supervision of Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH). We were trained on the standard serological techniques of Retro viral screening (RVS), Hepatitis, and VDRL. It was in preparation for a six month extensive survey we conducted across Nigeria based on the impact of HIV screening and therapy over the last three decades called Nigeria AIDS INDICATOR AND IMPACT SURVEY (NAIIS 2018). The training was an eye opener for me on the need to standardized our screening methods.

On a way forward, in order to attain the blood transfusion safety target, there is need for more voluntary donations campaign through mass media, schools, Churches, and Mosques.

Factors that prevent people from voluntary donations should be address like establishment of more independent blood donation centres, incentives, availability of storage facilities, and free donation services.
Nigeria should have a centralised registry of people with blood group O rhesus D negative, and such rare blood units should be made available across the country through a systematic sharing arrangement.

There is need for the communities and philanthropies to create more Non governmental organizations (NGOs) to address shortage of blood and to complement government efforts, as the government can not carryout the duty alone.

Saifullahi Attahir is the President of National Association of Jigawa State Medical Students (NAJIMS) National body. He wrote this piece from Federal University Dutse

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Gates Foundation has awarded a $5 million grant to Axmed, a healthcare technology company transforming how lifesaving medicines are procured across growth markets.

The financial support will be deployed as a matching fund, providing a 1:1 match on government procurement of maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) commodities through the Axmed Medicines Platform.

The fund is part of the global health movement to expand affordable access to high-quality medicines.

It is expected to unlock up to $10 million in MNCH procurement across a selection of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“It aims to strengthen national procurement capacity by offering Ministries of Health near-term liquidity, access to quality-assured MNCH commodities, and the benefits of pooled procurement and aggregated demand – driving both cost-efficiency and supply security,” the company said in a statement shared with Business Post.

The initiative was announced during a high-level roundtable held alongside the 78th World Health Assembly, which convened Ministers of Health, national procurement leads, and representatives from key multilateral organizations and philanthropic partners.

“Reducing the number of preventable deaths of mothers and babies is key to our work in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Ms Cynthia Mwase, Director of Health, Africa, Gates Foundation.

“This partnership with Axmed and local health leaders is an important step forward in ensuring that life-saving innovations reach the communities where they can make the greatest difference – so that more families can experience healthy pregnancies, safe births, and strong starts to life,” she added.

Every year, 287,000 women die from pregnancy and childbirth complications, and 2.3 million newborns die in their first month—despite the availability of proven, cost-effective interventions. Weak procurement systems, constrained budgets, and fragmented supply chains continue to limit access to essential MNCH commodities across low-resource settings.

The current global liquidity crunch, coupled with reductions in donor funding, has made it harder for governments to secure the medicines they need. This grant responds to that challenge—unlocking immediate financing while enabling longer-term procurement reforms.

“Through our partnership with Axmed, the Government of Rwanda has shown that meaningful improvements in the efficient and sustainable delivery of high-quality medicines across multiple therapeutic areas can be achieved.

“Now, through this matching fund, our partnership will expand this impact even further, reaching the most vulnerable with urgency and precision. This matching fund is a strategic step forward in reimagining procurement in a new era of global health: smarter, faster, and designed to deliver measurable results across the entire health system in collaboration with partners who are both innovative and purpose-driven “ said Dr Loko Abraham, Chief Executive Officer for Rwanda Medical Supply.

Axmed’s digital marketplace connects institutional buyers directly with vetted suppliers, aggregating demand across countries and consolidating procurement at scale.

In 2024, Ministries and other procurers using the platform achieved average savings of 20–30 per cent, with select MNCH products realizing up to 80 per cent cost reductions.

Axmed also partners with global logistics providers to manage end-to-end delivery, from manufacturer to last-mile distribution, with full tracking and traceability. The platform has been deployed across multiple LMICs to support national and regional procurement strategies.

“This fund is a clear example of how catalytic financing and technology can work together to deliver immediate and lasting impact,” said Mr Emmanuel Akpakwu, Founder and CEO of Axmed. “Our goal is not just to deliver quality medicines faster and more affordably, but to help build more resilient and efficient procurement systems for the future.”