Jakarta, June 13, 2004 (Islam Online - IOL) - As a new twist to Indonesian
presidential campaigning strategies, 150 supporters of incumbent President
Megawati Soekarnoputri from Yogyakart in central Java have recently decided to
make a 'silent campaign' rather than the customary campaign shouts and yells on
Indonesian streets. The Megawati supporters will be donating their blood as the
main event of their campaign.
It is 'in the blood' of many
Indonesians to routinely donate blood, to the extent that it has become a
tradition for organizations, state-owned and private companies to celebrate
their anniversaries by holding blood donation activities.
“In Jakarta every day we receive
more than 10 requests for our mobile units to go to certain offices that
organize blood donation events. However, since our staff members and mobile
facilities are limited, sometimes we have to turn down several requests,” said
Dr. Yuyun Soedarmono, Director of the Blood Transfusion Unit of the Indonesian
Red Cross (PMI) in Jakarta , Friday ( 11/6/2004 ).
Indonesia 's Blood Stock
Another obstacle is the expiration
date on the blood stock, which can be stored for no longer than three weeks.
“If we collect too much blood in a certain period, it will be wasted because we
can not keep it for more than three weeks in our storage,” she explained.
Indonesia ’s blood stock is
basically adequate, except for certain blood types such as AB blood type, which
is considered rather rare in this country that has a population of 220 million.
However, it is difficult to get the exact figure of the country's blood
requirements, she admitted.
The number of regular blood
donations in Indonesia is 1.2 million units, or five donors for every 1,000
people. The figure is quite low compared to Malaysia , which is 14 donors per
1,000 population, Singapore at 24 per 1,000 people, or Japan with 68 per 1,000
people. The World Health Organization (WHO)’s target is 2% of a country’s
population, which means around 4 million blood units for Indonesia , she said.
PMI gets 80% of its blood stock from
voluntary, unpaid donors, while the remaining 20% is collected from family
replacement donations (where a member of the patient’s family is obligated to
replace the units of blood given to the patient). “We screen 100% of donated
blood for four diseases, namely syphilis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV,”
Dr. Yuyun said.
According to the WHO, the basis for
an adequate supply of safe blood is a pool of healthy, regular, voluntary
donors who give blood without financial or other reward. Research has shown
that donors who give blood of their own free will without the expectation of
payment are the 'safest' donors. However, a recent WHO survey shows that out of
178 countries, only 39 have 100% voluntary, unpaid blood donations.
According to the survey, 89% of
low-income countries rely on family replacement donations and paid donations.
In those countries, the seroprevalence for transfusion-transmissible infections
(HIV, hepatitis B and C and syphilis) in blood donors is much higher than in
countries with full voluntary, unpaid donations.
The survey also showed that 20
countries in the world do not have 100% screening for HIV, 24 countries do not
have 100% screening for hepatitis B, 37 for hepatitis C and 24 for syphilis.
Furthermore, a number of countries do not test at all for these infections (one
country does not test for HIV, four do not test for hepatitis B, 31 for
hepatitis C and nine for syphilis).
Highest Maternal Mortality
Indonesia ’s maternal mortality rate
is the highest in the Southeast Asian region. According to last year’s data,
the country’s maternal mortality rate is 307 mothers per 100,000 live births,
and the infant mortality rate is 20 babies per 1,000 live births.
There are several factors that kill
mothers and babies during the pre and postnatal process. In cities, health
complications of pregnancy often result in fatal bleeding. In this case, blood
is the most important life saver, said Dr. Nila F. Moeloek, Chairperson of a
women's organization called Dharma Wanita Persatuan, which has been very active
in organizing blood donation activities.
Another factor for the high maternal
mortality rate in Indonesia lies in the country's geography, which is very
large and consists of more than 17,000 islands. About half of Indonesia 's
population lives on Java Island alone, while the rest are spread throughout the
other islands. Medical help often comes late for pregnant women living in
remote areas. Pregnancy-related deaths are quite high in rural areas because of
very poor transportation facilities. They lose a lot of blood while waiting for
help.
The Indonesian Ministry of Health
has targeted to reduce the maternal mortality rate to 150 per 100,000 live
births, and infant mortality rate or 15 per 1,000 live births by the year 2010.
Dengue Fever Outbreak
Demand for blood was quite high when
Indonesia was hit by an outbreak of dengue fever early this year and in
previous years. From January 1 to April 30 2004 , a total of 58,301 cases of
dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) resulting in 658 deaths were
reported. During the 1998 pandemic, in which more than 1.2 million cases of
dengue fever and DHF were reported to WHO from 56 countries, Indonesia reported
an annual number of 72,133 cases and 1414 deaths with an overall case fatality
rate of 2.0%.
Indonesia ’s provinces in Java
including West Java , Central Java and East Java , have been particularly
severely affected, with more than 35% of the cases reported from Jakarta alone.
“We were extremely busy with
supplying blood to a number of hospitals. Luckily in cities like Jakarta , we
do not have a serious problem of blood stock, unlike rural areas where mobile
facilities to collect and store blood are lacking,” Dr. Yuyun said.
Indonesia 's World Blood Donor Day
The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), the
International Federation of Red Cross, the Indonesian Health Ministry and the
WHO are scheduled to sign a charter to highlight the launching of the World
Blood Donor Day on June 14.
“We will also have a dialogue with
our regular blood donors to express our appreciation to those who have given
their valuable contribution to save others' lives. This is in line with the
theme of the World Blood Donor Day, which is ‘Blood, a Gift for Life. Thank
You’. We would also encourage the younger generation to donate their blood
regularly," said Dr. Yuyun.
Donating Blood Promotes Healthy
Lifestyle
She explained that Indonesia has
adopted the Pledge 25 Club program, which is intended by the WHO as a model for
every country, striving to ensure that all patients requiring transfusion have
access to safe blood.
“We have started recruiting students
aged around 17 years old in five high schools in Jakarta to join the Pledge 25
Club, which means they will donate blood at least 25 times in their life time,”
she added.
The Pledge 25 Club dated back to
when the spread of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s caused blood transfusion services
across the world to seek new strategies to collect safe blood, according to the
WHO. In 1989, Zimbabwe started targeting a new pool of low-risk donors:
students aged 16-19. The first of these students became so committed to the
venture that when they completed their schooling they decided to create the
Pledge 25 Club, committing to making at least another 25 blood donations before
the age of 25. The initiative was particularly successful in keeping these
young people protected from HIV and other illnesses since part of their pledge
was that they would maintain a healthy lifestyle in order to give safe blood.
Now it is too early to see whether
Indonesia ’s Pledge 25 Club will succeed or not. But it is certain that the
tradition of blood donation as a very important part of anniversary
commemoration in the country will continue. However, Indonesia needs more
mobile facilities to meet the enthusiasm of the blood donors and to serve
patients in remote areas.
Sources:
- Interview with Dr. Yuyun Soedarmono, Director of Blood Transfusion Unit of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI)
- The WHO International's fact sheet, May and June 2004
- The World Blood Day press release
- "For Sure Mega, Blood Donation Campaign", ANTARA, June 10, 2004
- "Dharma Wanita Persatuan" website, 2004
Ms. Hani Mumtazah is an environmental journalist based in Jakarta, Indonesia.
She graduated from a three-year English language non-decree program at the
University of Indonesia, Jakarta. She attended the Non-Aligned News Agencies
Journalism Course in New Delhi, India, in 1987. Comments and suggestions
may be forwarded to her by contacting the editor at ScienceTech@islam-online.net
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