By Justina Auta
The National Blood Service Agency (NBSA) has intensified efforts to promote voluntary blood donation across Nigeria, following the unveiling of the 2026 World Blood Donor Day (WBDD) campaign slogan by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The Director-General of NBSA, Prof. Saleh Yuguda, made this known in a statement in Abuja.
WHO recently announced the official slogan for the 2026 global blood donor campaign — “One Drop of Humanity.
Give Blood. Save Lives” to reinforce global efforts to ensure safe, sustainable and adequate blood supply through regular voluntary blood donations.
Yuguda, therefore, urged Nigerians to demonstrate greater commitment to voluntary blood donation, noting that “the initiative seeks to drive sustained growth in regular, voluntary and unpaid blood donation worldwide.
“The campaign also aims to raise awareness about the life-saving impact of blood and plasma donation and recognises the invaluable contributions of blood donors.
“It promotes the enduring values of solidarity, compassion and humanity that underpin blood donation.”
The NBSA boss said the campaign would further encourage governments, development partners and relevant stakeholders to strengthen and invest in national blood programmes to achieve universal access to safe blood transfusion services.
He revealed that a major focus of the 2026 commemoration would be community integration and grassroots engagement, with the agency expanding its advocacy efforts beyond health institutions into communities across the country.
He explained that traditional institutions, community leaders, youth groups, faith-based organisations and local stakeholders would be actively engaged to domesticate the message of voluntary blood donation and foster stronger community ownership of blood services.
According to him, the community-based approach is designed to deepen public understanding of the importance of blood donation, dispel misconceptions surrounding the practice and build sustainable donor pools capable of meeting the nation’s blood needs.
He noted that strengthening voluntary blood donation remained critical to ensuring the availability of safe blood for patients requiring transfusion during emergencies, maternal healthcare, surgeries and the treatment of various medical conditions.
Yuguda expressed optimism that the campaign would mobilise governments, healthcare institutions, civil society organisations and citizens to embrace blood donation as humanitarian act capable of saving millions of lives.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that World Blood Donor Day is commemorated annually on June 14 to recognise voluntary blood donors and advocate stronger blood systems capable of meeting transfusion needs globally.
The 2026 campaign is expected to strengthen community participation and support ongoing efforts towards achieving universal access to safe blood transfusion services.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu
