Mosques collect one quarter of blood donations in Morocco

One quarter of registered blood donations in Morocco are collected through mosques across the country, Mohamed Binajiba, head of the National Centre for Blood Donation, told Anadolu yesterday as Morocco celebrated the International Day for Blood Donation and organised campaigns in a number of the mosques across the country.

“We faced many problems related to [finding] enough blood for patients,” Binajiba said, “therefore, we turned to mosques”. He noted that during Ramadan campaigns take place at night because people are fasting during the day and many people gather at mosques at night.

Binajiba said that the campaigns have been conducted in cooperation with the Mohammed IV Organisation, a charity affiliated to the endowment ministry since 2011.

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“We put a target of 100 per cent of voluntary donations and getting 25,000 blood units, including 13,000 from mosques,” Binajiba said, noting that 47 per cent of the target was achieved in the first two weeks of Ramadan.

WHO recommends that at least 1 per cent of the country’s residents donate blood every year. Binajaiba said that 0.96 per cent of Moroccans donated in 2016, an increase from previous years.

Comparing the number with the previous year he said that 313,680 people donated in 2016, while 297,711 people donated in 2015.

According to WHO data, only 62 countries reached their target.