Blood donation lowers heart attack and cancer risks

The Lagos State Blood Transfusion Committee (LSBTC) has announced that blood donors have a lower risk of suffering from heart attack and cancer. The committee revealed this on a voluntary blood drive exercise held at a church in Anthony Village, Lagos.

According to the Chairman, Church Steering Committee, Dr. Albert Adeseye Adu, a research has shown that apart from looking younger, refreshed and stronger, voluntary blood donors have low risks of experiencing heart attack and having cancer.

He therefore called on fellow parishioners to join hands to save lives by participating in the exercise; noting that voluntary blood donation helps save lives of sick children, sickle cell and cancer patients and mothers during childbirth complications as well as victims of auto crash.

Enumerating the advantages of voluntary blood donation against commercial blood donation, Mr. Solomon Eka, spokesperson for LSBTC said that most commercial blood donors engage in unhealthy activities that expose them to infection, like sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV which could make the blood they donate unsafe.

He added that voluntary blood donors have nothing to lose as the exercise helps their body produce new blood cells, and reduces the heart’s workload.