News
Ghana records annual shortfall of 330,000 units of blood —National Blood Service

Published
2 months agoon

Ghana’s Blood Collection Index (BCI) has increased in the last five years from 5.2 in 2020 to 6.1 in 2024, with a total of 187,280 units of blood collected last year.
However, this remains below the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) minimum recommendation of 10 units per 1,000 population, leaving the country with an annual shortfall of 330,000 units.
The Chief Executive Officer of the National Blood Service, Dr Shirley Phyllis Owusu-Ofori, disclosed this at the Service’s annual performance review meeting in Accra, last Thursday.
The event, held on the theme: ‘Celebrating 20 Years of Giving: Thank You, Blood Donor,’ highlighted ongoing efforts to improve voluntary blood donation and address supply gaps.
BCI is a key indicator used to measure the availability of blood within a population and calculated as the number of blood units collected per 1,000 people in a given year.
Of all the 16 regions in Ghana, Oti and Savannah had the lowest availability of blood last year while the Upper West and Greater Accra had the most blood stock.
Despite a national requirement of 308,000 units of blood for 2024, the NBS received 187,280 out of the targeted 190,000 with nationwide voluntary blood donation standing at 29 per cent, way below the 40 per cent target.
“We celebrate our voluntary donors, we say we have come far because of their magnanimity but we still do not have enough voluntary blood donors. We need more and I urge all people who have never given blood before to consider it.
For those who have given before and for one reason or the other they needed blood and didn’t get and have decided not to give again, they should consider that one woman or child who their unit of blood saved, reconsider and commit to give again,” Dr Owusu-Ofori appealed.
In furtherance, she outlined the vision of the NBS for this year to include by ensuring the sufficient supply of blood, that blood donated were safe for transfusion and widen accessibility of blood as a part of efforts towards attaining universal health coverage (UHC).
“We intend to collaborate with GES to build the capacity of students on blood safety and voluntary blood donation, engage development and health partners to mobilise resources for capital investment and expenditure while finalising and implement regulations to facilitate the implementation of the National Blood Service Act, 2020 (Act 1042),” she said.
The CEO also pointed out plans to implement a standardised testing regime for blood donations across the country while piloting an integrated information management system to manage blood donors, products and recipients, nationwide.
“We hope to complete feasibility studies towards the construction of regional blood centres and collection units across the country to ensure that people everywhere can access blood,” she stated.
The Director of Allied Health at the Ministry of Health, Dr Ignatius Awinibuno, noted the pivotal role the NBS played in maintaining a resilient healthcare system and expressed the commitment of the Ministry to support the Service in order to achieve its set targets.
For his part, the WHO Country Representative, Dr Frank Lule, in a speech read on his behalf called for sustained collaboration with stakeholders to overcome present challenges facing the NBS, assuring of the organisation’s support to ongoing efforts “to ensure that every patient in need has access to safe and adequate blood.”
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH
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The Central North Regional Police Command, has arrested two suspects in connection with the murder of , Tahiru Zenabu, at Kokoase, a suburb of Twifo Praso in the Central Region.
Tahiru Zenabu, was found dead in her room on April 3, 2025 with a cloth tied around her neck and blood stains on her hands at Kokoase, a suburb of Twifo Praso in the Central Region.
The suspects, identified as Isaac Arhin and Richard Armah, were arrested on May 5, 2025 at Twifo Aboabo.
Preliminary investigations established that Richard Armah, a mobile phone Repairer and Spinner residing in Twifo Aboabo, was arrested when he used the deceased’s mobile phone to call a friend of the deceased who reported the matter to the police.
Upon interrogation, Richard Armah mentioned suspect Isaac Arhin as his accomplice and he was subsequently arrested. The mobile phone has since been retrieved and is in the custody of the Police.
The two accused persons were put before the court on May 7, 2025 and were remanded into police custody to re-appear on May 21, 2025.
News
Female Members of Parliament Undergo Affirmative Action Training in Ada

Published
3 hours agoon
May 9, 2025
A two-day training workshop was organised by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to sensitise Ghanaian female Members of Parliament (MPs) on the Affirmative Action (AA) Law was held from May 6-7 2025.
The workshop held at the Aqua Safari Resort in Ada aimed at providing the MPs with lobbying skills, advocacy and the necessary tools for the act to be fully enforced.
Madam Kathleen Addy, Chairperson of the NCCE, opening the workshop, said the sensitisation was important for the female MPs to help materialise the benefits envisaged in the law.
Madam Addy said there were a lot of reforms to be made to help more women emerge as parliamentarians, citing Rwanda, where 64 per cent of its parliamentarians are females.
Madam Addy said the AA law must impress upon political parties to reserve a percentage of their parliamentary seats for women, an intervention she believes would make women part of policymaking.
She lamented that Ghana has 50 per cent of its population being women but only 14 per cent of women in Ghana’s parliament are women.
The MPs expressed satisfaction about the workshop, acknowledging that women have always been marginalised and less catered for.
The Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Hon. Ablah Dzifa Gomashie, and MP for Ketu South and a queen mother in the Aflao Traditional Area, said that a female child could equally be raised by her parents to perform tasks of all kinds, rather than segregating duties to be performed with gender identification.
She said aside what biologically identifies us as men and women, and may be our strength levels, every other thing can be done by both genders, adding that countries that have women in leadership are doing better than Ghana.
The MP for Salaga South, Madam Zuwera Mohammed Ibrahimah, added her voice and said the Affirmative Action Law, which was passed and assented to last year, would not be one of the many laws that are not in use.
According to her, female MPs would get themselves acquainted with the law, engage various stakeholders, and then disseminate an action plan to the citizenry to empower and encourage many women to accept leadership positions in the country.

On Monday, May 7, 2025, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts and MP for Ketu South, Hon. Abla Dzifa Gomashie launched the Fleet Pool Management Service (FPMS), a transport service by the Ghana Tourism Development Company (GTDC) that aims to solve the transportation challenges in the tourism sector.
According to Hon. Abla Dzifa Gomashie, the goal of the initiative is to ensure that movement between destinations in Ghana is as enjoyable as the attractions themselves.
She stated that tourism is not just about the sights. It is about the experience, and the experience starts the moment a tourist lands in Ghana. If transportation is poor, we risk losing visitors and damaging our reputation.





Abla Dzifa Gomashie stressed the need for better connectivity and called on African countries to work together to improve direct flight connections within the continent.
According to her, travelling across Africa is expensive and tiring. We therefore need partnerships with countries that have national carriers to make this easier, she stated.
The Fleet Pool Management Service (FPMS) is designed not just as a short-term strategy, but as a model for long-term transformation.
It will help support better driving standards, compliance with national regulations, and overall growth in the tourism ecosystem.
The minister urged other tourism-related businesses, such as hotels, restaurants, and cultural institutions, to also reflect Ghana’s identity in what they offer by playing Ghanaian music in their hotel lobbies, decorating the place with local art, and serving Ghanaian food in creative ways. She asked hoteliers to let tourists feel the culture at every turn.
Concluding her address, she urged stakeholders to embrace innovation and a spirit of service, which has Ghana’s development at the forefront.
She expressed confidence that, with collective effort, tourism could become a key pillar of the nation’s economic growth.
The Ag. The Chief Executive Officer of the GTDC said the FPMS will use the Private Public Partnership Approach to improve transportation in the tourism sector, with GTDC doing the legwork to get the customers.
To do this, he said the GTDC will ensure that there is a database on drivers to organise tour driving and track to give accurate information to tourists.
Though he acknowledged that collecting data in Ghana is cumbersome and challenging, he said GTDC will support by organising this using a different kind of orientation.
The initiative is a way to position Ghana by helping to overcome the challenges for us to achieve the Black Star Experience.
According to Prof. Kobby Mensah, FPMS is a forward-looking transport network that would ensure a professional system that has a dependable supply system in place.
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