Blood Bank Initiatives
A life-saving initiative to establish a robust and well-equipped blood bank at Delta State University Teaching Hospital to ensure swift access to safe blood for emergency medical care and surgeries.
Project Overview
Every pregnancy should end with a healthy mother holding a healthy baby. In Nigeria, too often, it does not. Maternal and infant mortality remain among the most urgent public health challenges in the country, driven by preventable complications and delayed access to lifesaving care. One of the most critical gaps is also one of the most solvable: reliable, timely access to safe blood.
The Blood Bank Initiative is a strategic program spearheaded by the Friends of DELSUTH Foundation to significantly upgrade the blood banking capacity of the Delta State University Teaching Hospital. Recognizing that timely access to safe blood is often the thin line between life and death, this project focuses on mobilizing resources to procure modern blood storage and screening equipment, and launching community-wide voluntary blood donation campaigns.
A modern blood bank changes this reality. It transforms emergency response from uncertainty to readiness. It ensures screening, storage, cross-matching, and distribution are managed professionally and safely. It reduces delays that cost lives.
A blood bank is not just an infrastructure project. It is a promise that when a mother is bleeding, help is available, immediately.
The Problem We Are Addressing
The Story of Motherhood and Childhood in Nigeria
Why preventable deaths remain a national emergency
In Nigeria, childbirth is still too often shadowed by risk. For many families, pregnancy is not only a time of hope, it is also a season of uncertainty. The tragedy is not that complications happen. Complications occur everywhere. The tragedy is that in too many communities, the systems that should turn emergencies into survivable events are not consistently within reach.
Nigeria's infant and maternal mortality rates are not just numbers on a page. They are a national signal that too many women arrive at facilities too late, too many births still happen without skilled care, and too many hospitals face predictable shortages in the very resources that save lives in the first critical minutes of an obstetric emergency.
Maternal mortality: a crisis of scale and consequence
The latest United Nations inter-agency estimates show Nigeria's maternal mortality ratio at 993 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023, with an uncertainty interval of 718 to 1,540. That number represents a reality that is hard to hold in one sentence: Nigeria is among the countries with the highest maternal mortality in the world. And the impact is not confined to Nigeria alone. The same UN estimates report that Nigeria accounted for about 28.7 percent of all estimated global maternal deaths in 2023, with approximately 75,000 maternal deaths that year.
Behind every maternal death is a newborn at higher risk of dying, other children suddenly without a caregiver, and a family plunged into financial and emotional crisis. Maternal mortality is not only a health indicator. It is a development indicator, a stability indicator, and a measure of whether emergency care truly works when it matters most.
The UN estimates also highlight the personal risk embedded in these national figures: in 2023, Nigeria's lifetime risk of maternal death was about 1 in 25.
Infant and child mortality: the fragile first days of life
A child's risk of death in Nigeria is highest at the very beginning, during pregnancy, birth, and the first month of life. UNICEF's country profile data estimates Nigeria's infant mortality rate at 60 deaths per 1,000 live births and neonatal mortality rate at 34 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Nigeria's 2024 National Demographic and Health Survey findings underscore the same reality. The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare cited an under-five mortality rate of 110 per 1,000 live births and a neonatal mortality rate of 41 per 1,000 live births, noting that a large share of under-five deaths occur during the neonatal period.
The core message is consistent across sources: the first days and weeks of life are where Nigeria loses too many children, and where stronger maternity and newborn systems save the most lives, fastest.
The care gap: too many births without skilled support
Maternal and newborn survival is tightly linked to skilled care during pregnancy, delivery, and the early postnatal period. The 2024 NDHS findings report: antenatal care coverage at 63 percent, skilled birth attendance at 46 percent, and postnatal coverage within two days at 42 percent.
Progress matters, and these figures reflect movement in the right direction. But the numbers also reveal the gap: when more than half of births are not attended by skilled providers, complications are more likely to escalate before help arrives. Even where skilled providers are present, they can only be as effective as the systems around them, including referral pathways, blood availability, surgical readiness, and reliable laboratory capacity.
Hemorrhage: the emergency that turns minutes into outcomes
Among the direct causes of maternal death, obstetric hemorrhage is one of the most urgent because it can become fatal quickly. Postpartum hemorrhage can transform a healthy delivery into a life-threatening emergency in a short window of time.
Nigeria's National Guideline on Postpartum Hemorrhage states that postpartum hemorrhage accounts for one third of all hospital admissions due to complications of obstetric hemorrhage, and that 42 percent of maternal deaths arise from these complications.
Hemorrhage is treatable. Clinical teams can act. Medicines can contract the uterus. Surgery can control bleeding. But in severe cases, one intervention remains decisive: rapid access to safe blood and blood products. When blood is not immediately available, care becomes a race against time that the patient cannot afford to lose.
Why mothers and newborns die when solutions exist
Many maternal and newborn deaths occur at the intersection of predictable weaknesses:
Delay in seeking care — Some families do not recognize danger signs early, or cannot afford transport, or face cultural and logistical barriers.
Delay in reaching care — Distances, poor roads, night travel, and referral bottlenecks can turn emergencies into crises.
Delay in receiving quality care — Facilities may be overwhelmed or under-equipped. Power interruptions and supply gaps disrupt critical services. Essential resources like oxygen, laboratory testing, safe blood, and surgical capacity may not be available at the moment of need.
This is why mortality reduction is not only about awareness. It is about systems. It is about ensuring that when a mother arrives bleeding, the hospital is ready. It is about ensuring that when a newborn is born too soon or too small, the facility can stabilize and treat, not just refer.
Key Activities
How a Blood Bank Saves Lives
A functional blood bank strengthens care at the exact moments when minutes matter:
Obstetric emergencies — Postpartum hemorrhage, placenta accreta, ruptured uterus, severe anemia, and complications of cesarean delivery can require urgent transfusion.
Newborn and child emergencies — Severe neonatal anemia, sepsis-related anemia, and other critical conditions may require blood products quickly, especially in referral centers.
Safer, more reliable care for the entire community — A blood bank supports emergency surgery, trauma response, and chronic conditions like sickle cell disease, reducing dependence on last-minute replacement donors and dangerous delays.
What We Are Building
Establishing a modern blood bank at DELSUTH is not merely about equipment. It is about building a system that ensures:
— Proper donor recruitment and retention
— Safe screening for transfusion-transmissible infections
— Reliable storage with temperature-controlled infrastructure
— Trained laboratory personnel
— Efficient distribution within emergency care pathways
The Blood Connection: Why Survival Depends on Readiness
A functional blood system changes what a hospital can promise its community. It enables: immediate transfusion support for postpartum hemorrhage and surgical emergencies; safer management of severe anemia in pregnancy; stronger neonatal and pediatric emergency response when transfusion is required; reduced reliance on last-minute replacement donors, which can delay care and increase risk; and better screening and safer transfusion practices through standardized processes and trained staff.
In many maternal deaths, the cause is not rare. It is a common complication made fatal by delay. Building readiness is what turns common complications into survivable events.
Target Beneficiaries
Expectant Mothers — Women experiencing complications such as postpartum hemorrhage, placenta accreta, ruptured uterus, severe anemia, and complications of cesarean delivery during pregnancy and childbirth.
Newborns and Infants — Neonates suffering from severe neonatal anemia, sepsis-related anemia, and other critical conditions requiring emergency blood products, particularly those born to at-risk mothers.
Accident and Trauma Victims — Individuals requiring emergency surgery and immediate blood transfusion following road traffic accidents, workplace injuries, or other major trauma.
Surgical Patients — Individuals undergoing complex elective or emergency surgical procedures at DELSUTH who require transfusion support.
Sickle Cell Disease Patients — Patients with chronic conditions requiring regular transfusion management through the hospital.
The Broader Community — Every family in Oghara and the wider Delta State that depends on reliable emergency services from DELSUTH. A functional blood bank strengthens the entire health system — emergency surgery, trauma response, and critical care.
Key Objectives
- 1To procure modern, medical-grade blood bank refrigerators and advanced screening equipment for DELSUTH.
- 2To establish proper donor recruitment and retention systems for sustainable blood supply.
- 3To implement safe screening protocols for transfusion-transmissible infections.
- 4To build reliable, temperature-controlled storage infrastructure.
- 5To train laboratory personnel on the latest global best practices in blood banking and transfusion medicine.
- 6To ensure efficient blood distribution within emergency care pathways.
- 7To drastically reduce maternal mortality related to postpartum hemorrhage by eliminating transfusion delays.
- 8To strengthen neonatal and pediatric emergency response capacity when transfusion is required.
The Crisis in Numbers
Why This Matters
These are not just statistics. They represent families, mothers, and newborns whose lives depend on emergency readiness.
Maternal Mortality Ratio (2023)
Nigeria's maternal mortality ratio — among the highest in the world.
Source: UN Inter-Agency Estimates, 2023
Estimated Maternal Deaths in Nigeria (2023)
Nigeria accounted for about 28.7 percent of all estimated global maternal deaths in 2023.
Source: UN Inter-Agency Estimates, 2023
Lifetime Risk of Maternal Death
A Nigerian woman's lifetime risk of dying from maternal causes.
Source: UN Inter-Agency Estimates, 2023
Infant Mortality Rate
Deaths per 1,000 live births. A child's risk of death is highest at the very beginning of life.
Source: UNICEF Country Profile Data
Neonatal Mortality Rate
Many under-five deaths occur during the neonatal period — the first 28 days of life.
Source: UNICEF Country Profile Data
Under-Five Mortality Rate
Under-five mortality remains critically high, with a large share occurring in the neonatal period.
Source: 2024 National Demographic and Health Survey / Federal Ministry of Health
Births Attended by Skilled Providers
More than half of all births in Nigeria are not attended by skilled health providers.
Source: 2023–24 NDHS Key Indicators
Maternal Deaths from Hemorrhage Complications
Postpartum hemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal mortality. It can kill within hours without rapid intervention.
Source: Nigeria National Guideline on PPH / 2025 Analysis
Antenatal Care Coverage
While improving, over a third of pregnant women still lack adequate antenatal care.
Source: 2024 NDHS / Federal Ministry of Health
Global Annual Maternal Deaths from PPH
PPH is the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide. Nigeria carries a disproportionate burden.
Source: World Health Organization
Project Location
See exactly where we are making an impact.
By the Numbers
Project Timeline
Project Launch & Comprehensive Needs Assessment at DELSUTH
Procurement of Blood Storage Refrigerators and Screening Equipment
Launch of Community Voluntary Blood Donation Campaign
Laboratory Staff Training and Digital Inventory System Integration
Your Role in This Story
How You Can Help
Lives are saved by clinicians. Systems are strengthened by leaders. But transformation is sustained by partners.
For Individual Donors
Your contribution directly supports lifesaving infrastructure. Whether you give once or become a sustaining partner, you are investing in measurable outcomes:
— Blood bank equipment and refrigeration systems
— Screening technology
— Laboratory training
— Emergency preparedness
Every donation translates into capacity. Every dollar moves us closer to a hospital that never has to say, "We do not have blood available."
For Corporate and Institutional Partners
Partnering in this initiative demonstrates measurable social impact:
— Maternal and child health advancement
— Health system strengthening
— Community resilience
— Sustainable development alignment
We welcome structured partnerships, equipment sponsorships, capacity-building collaborations, and long-term strategic engagement.
For the Diaspora Community
Your connection to home is powerful. Supporting this initiative bridges continents and ensures that global expertise translates into local survival.
Healthcare systems do not improve by intention alone. They improve through infrastructure, systems, and partnership. Government leadership is essential. Hospital administrators are committed. Clinicians are dedicated. But sustainable transformation requires something more.
It requires community. It requires diaspora engagement. It requires strategic philanthropy. It requires partners who understand that targeted investments in health infrastructure create exponential impact.
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn more about the specifics of this project and how we operate.
Among the causes of maternal death, severe bleeding after childbirth — postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) — is especially unforgiving. It can kill within hours without rapid intervention, often requiring immediate blood transfusion. The World Health Organization describes PPH as the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide. In Nigeria, PPH may account for up to 44% of maternal mortality. The clinical reality is simple: uterotonics, surgery, and skilled teams save lives, but blood is often the difference between survival and tragedy when hemorrhage is advanced.
In many Nigerian hospitals, blood is not consistently available when it is needed most. Families are often asked to find replacement donors. Precious time is lost. In some cases, compatible blood cannot be secured at all. The consequences are devastating: mothers die from preventable bleeding, newborns are left without maternal care, families lose breadwinners, and communities absorb generational trauma.
A functional blood bank strengthens the entire health system. It enables: immediate transfusion support for postpartum hemorrhage and surgical emergencies; safer management of severe anemia in pregnancy; stronger neonatal and pediatric emergency response when transfusion is required; reduced reliance on last-minute replacement donors; and better screening and safer transfusion practices through standardized processes and trained staff.
No. A functional blood bank strengthens emergency surgery, trauma and accident response, treatment of severe childhood anemia, care for patients with sickle cell disease, and management of sepsis and complex medical conditions. In short, it strengthens the entire health system.
Nigeria's statistics point to a national emergency. The latest UN estimates show 993 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023, approximately 75,000 maternal deaths, and nearly one third of global maternal deaths occurring in Nigeria. The numbers clarify what matters most: interventions that protect women at the moment emergencies strike, and services that keep newborns alive in the earliest, most fragile days of life. Investments in emergency readiness, including safe blood systems, are not optional. They are foundational.
Any healthy individual between the ages of 18 and 65, weighing at least 50kg, and meeting basic health screening criteria can safely donate blood. A sterile, new needle is used for every donation and then safely discarded.
Together We Can Make a Difference
Your contribution makes foundational initiatives like this possible. Join us in building resilient health systems and protecting communities.