Making Sure Blood Donors Only Have to Register Once in Zambia
Jun 23 2009, Zambia [ZM], Health
- Source:
- Olaf Erz [oerz(at)iicd.org]
- Country:
- Zambia [ZM]
- Sector:
- Health
Soon, blood donors in the Western, Copperbelt and Lusaka province of Zambia will only have to register once with the Zambia National Blood Transfusion Service if they want to donate blood, even if they have moved from one province to another. A computer system will digitalise registration and send SMS messages to blood donors reminding them that they can donate blood again.
By Gaël Hernández Bourlon-Buon and Jules Jessurun
“Dear sir, you are kindly reminded that you are able to donate blood again.” This is (a simplified version of) the text message which registered blood donors in Zambia will receive starting later this winter. This text message comes from a fully automated system that recognizes when a donor is capable of donating blood again and therefore sends him or her the text message in advance. This is possible because a system will be put in place at the offices of the Zambia National Blood Transfusion Service (ZNBTS), the institution mandated by the Ministry of Health to coordinate and manage the national blood transfusion programme.
With the support of IICD and Cordaid the system will be installed and nurses and other ZNBTS personnel will be trained to use the computers and the system in the most efficient way.
Keeping track of registered blood donors online
Not only does the system send SMS messages, it also makes it easier to reach blood donors. First-time blood donors are often high school students living in the rural areas. ZNBTS staff used to register them on paper. The problem was that if they moved to another location, even if this was only to another village or city, and wanted to donate blood again they would then have to redo the entire registration process. With the computerised system, potential donors can just stop by, have their blood taken and all their data will be saved in an online database that is accessible from every office of the ZNBTS.
The software used to run the SMS system is called Kannel . It is a free-to-use, adjustable program that is listed in The Free Software Directory; a project of The Free Software Foundation (FSF)and the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Fast, efficient and effective
In short, the new system will save time and, combined with the SMS service, it will always be easy to track blood donors so that more blood can be collected. Blood donations help save or improve the life of someone in hospital - there are hundreds of reasons why anyone could need a life-saving blood transfusion. Computer training courses for staff will begin this August and the computerised system will be fully operational by the end of 2009.