On the occasion of World Blood Donor Day, Ecobank Foundation and Ecobank Ghana took to social media to create awareness on the importance of donating blood to save lives.

The Chief Executive Officer of Ecobank Foundation, Ms. Julie Essiam and the Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, Mr Dan Sackey, both encouraged Ghanaians to make blood donation a habit to ensure continuous supply of blood to blood banks in Ghana.

Employees of the bank earlier this year, made a donation of over 500 pints of blood to the National Blood Bank through an internal blood donation exercise.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), based on samples of 1,000 people, the blood donation rate is 32.1 donations in high-income countries, 14.9 donations in upper-middle-income countries, 7.8 donations in lower-middle-income countries and 4.6 donations in low-income countries.

Blood transfusion saves lives and improves health, but many patients requiring transfusion do not have timely access to safe blood.

The WHO maintains that providing safe and adequate blood should be an integral part of every country’s national health care policy and infrastructure.

Ecobank Ghana Limited has, over the years, demonstrated through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, how the private sector can positively support and impact the health and educational sectors in the country.