WE COULD ACHIEVE IT TOGETHER

Pascal was a bright young man with promising prospects. However, his dream was almost extinguished when in an attempt at seeking admission he had to travel from the south where he was resident to the northern part of the country. This was because he never met the admission criteria of the southern Universities.

On his journey to the north on resumption, after passing his post-UME, he was involved in a ghastly motor accident. Fortunately, he was rushed to a nearby Hospital where attempts were made to save his life; he was discovered to have lost so much blood that he needed to be transfused. Request was made for a blood group O neg blood from a nearby laboratory which sourced blood from a blood tout (which was only tested three months back when he was NEGATIVE for HIV) and Pascal was saved.

Events took a new turn in his life, when Pascal was found to be POSITIVE to HIV after taking a voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) exercise organized for the new intakes on Campus.

Pascal’s story is one of the numerous cases of people contacting HIV through the transfusion of an infected blood. This wouldn’t have been possible if the blood was sourced from the right sources (such as National Blood Transfusion Services or other standard laboratories).

According to The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), there are now 33.3 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2009 some 2.6 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 1.8 million people died from AIDS.

To increase the awareness for this epidemic disease, December 1^st of every year is being set aside to mark the World AIDS day. The theme for this year’s World AIDS day is 'Universal Access and Human Rights'. Global leaders have pledged to work towards universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention and care, recognizing this as a fundamental human right. Valuable progress has been made in increasing access to HIV and AIDS services, yet greater commitment is needed around the world if the goal of universal access is to be achieved. Millions of people continue to be infected with HIV every year. In low- and middle-income countries, less than half of those in need of antiretroviral therapy (ART) are receiving it, and too many do not have access to adequate care services.

The protection of human rights is fundamental to combating the global HIV and AIDS epidemic. Violations against human rights fuel the spread of HIV, putting the “low strata” people in the society at a higher risk of HIV infection. By promoting individual human rights, new infections can be prevented and people who have HIV can live free from discrimination.

We could all curb the spread of HIV through proactive measures in ensuring an adequate blood supply to our Health institutions based on Voluntary non-remunerated blood donations. Good health policies and economic empowerment can reduce the risk of the “low strata” people in the society.

Join Blood Drive Initiative (BDI) and other organizations in this humanitarian efforts to ensure that Nigeria achieve 100% voluntary non-remunerated regular blood donation in other to curb the spread of HIV through blood transfusion.

Adekoga, Adeniji

Coordinator, BDI A.A.U. Detachment

HARVESTING BLOOD

BLOOD DRIVE INITIATIVE , AMBROSE ALLI UNIVERSITY, EKPOMA,  WILL BE CONTRIBUTING OUR EFFORTS TOWARD ACHIEVING 100% VOLUNTARY NON-REMUNERATED BLOOD DONATION THROUGH  A DONATION  EXERCISE SCHEDULE FOR 21TH OCTOBER, 2010. KINDLY JOIN US IN GIVING SOMEONE A CHANCE AT LIFE. BE THERE!

Ode to the Liver

Modest,
organized
friend,
underground
worker,
let me give you
the wing of my song,
the thrust
of the air,
the soaring
of my ode:
it is born
of your invisible
machinery,
it flies
from your tireless
confined mill,
delicate
powerful
entrail,
ever alive and dark.
While
the heart resounds and attracts
the music of the mandolin,
there, inside,
you filter
and apportion,
you separate
and divide,
you multiply
and lubricate,
you raise
and gather
the threads and the grams
of life, the final
distillate,
the intimate essences.
Submerged
viscus,
measurer
of the blood,
you live
full of hands
and full of eyes,
measuring and transferring
in your hidden
alchemical
chamber.
Yellow
is the matrix
of your red hydraulic flow,
diver
of the most perilous
depths of man,
there forever hidden,
everlasting,
in the factory,
noiseless.
And every feeling
or impulse
grew in your machinery,
received some drop
of your tireless
elaboration,
to love you added
fire or melancholy,
let one tiny cell
be in error
or one fiber be worn
in your labor
and the pilot flies into the wrong sky,
the tenor collapses in a wheeze,
the astronomer loses a planet.
Up above, how
the bewitching eyes of the rose
and the lips
of the matinal carnation
sparkle!
How the maiden
in the river laughs!
And down below,
the filter and the balance,
the delicate chemistry
of the liver,
the storehouse
of the subtle changes:
no one
sees or celebrates it,
but, when it ages
or its mortar wastes away,
the eyes of the rose are gone,
the teeth of the carnation wilted
and the maiden silent in the river.
Austere portion
or the whole
of myself,
grandfather
of the heart,
generator
of energy:
I sing to you
and I fear you
as though you were judge,
meter,
implacable indicator,
and if I can not
surrender myself in shackles to austerity,
if the surfeit of
delicacies,
or the hereditary wine of my country
dared
to disturb my health
or the equilibrium of my poetry,
from you,
dark monarch,
giver of syrups and of poisons,
regulator of salts,
from you I hope for justice:
I love life: Do not betray me! Work on!
Do not arrest my song.
Pablo Neruda, 1904–1973
Nobel Laureate in Literature, 1971
Translation by Oriana Josseau Kalant
“Oda al Higado,” by Pablo Neruda, translated by Oriana Josseau Kalant, as published in Alcohol Liver Pathology (J.M. Khana, Y. Israel, and H. Kalant, editors) © 1975. Reprinted with permission of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto.
Prepared: September 29, 2004

EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON HUMAN LIVER

i have just finished writing a paper on the above subject. watch out for the full details on this  spot.

IMPACTING KNOWLEDGE

In my bid to be a successful coordinator of BDI, AAU detachment, we recently organized training for our members in the detachment. this was based on SBFAF training module on BASIC BLOOD SAFETY CORE KNOWLEDGE . i thank all our members for making it a success.

WOLRD BLOOD DONORS DAY CELEBRATION

Blood Drive Initiative, A.A.U detachment recently celebrate WORLD BLOOD DONORS DAY. Donor in the detachment were honoured and a cake was cut for the celebration.