About

Beneath the mask (Our Story) …

In Sub-Saharan Africa, blood demand stands at about 18million units per year but only 6million units are donated thus a donation rate of 4.6/1000 persons. Every year in Cameroon, about 25% and 15% of pregnancy related and under five deaths respectively are due to blood requiring conditions. In 2015, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that in Cameroon only 50,000 units of blood were supplied out of 400,000units requested that is an 80% deficit. The demand for blood keeps increasing with the growing number of patients with end stage renal failure, cancer and the growing life expectancy of people living with HIV/AIDS. By facilitating access to blood, Dr Epie Terrence Beteck through this App is helping to solve the problem of hemorrhage as a primary cause of maternal mortality. My motivation for starting this Foundation was to facilitate blood donation by making blood readily available to those in need. I drew my inspiration from my encounter with an 18 year old lady while on call in a hospital in Douala-Cameroon. Of blood group 0 Rhesus negative (O-) (2.5% of Cameroonians) she was brought into my hospital in a start of hypovolemic shock after she bled much during delivery earlier that evening. Attempts by the family and hospital to secure O- blood were fruitless so she was refereed blindly from Edea to Douala for blood transfusion. Seeing her in that state and with the absence of O- blood in my blood bank, I took the risky decision of donating to her since I am O-, despite being the only doctor on call that night. It brought me joy that I could make a difference by pulling my sleeves up and providing the priceless precious liquid blood to this mother who had barely seen or felt the warmth of her baby. As an individual universal donor, I can only provide a maximum of 4 donations a year. With a desire to create a better impact, I started “Donate for life Afrika”. This platform will help educate youths on the need for blood donation and some education on healthy living as a blood donor. By encouraging youths to go donate we are at the same time helping them know their HIV status so that those who are positive can be link into the test and treat national HIV program. We also want to give blood donors more reasons to donate by providing them with a donation card for which they can have Express services in all partner hospitals and save their blood in a virtual blood bank for subsequent use. Donors may also benefit from a mobile money account and many more services because blood donors are HEROS. Why not become the Mandela of your time by donating because “Real joy comes from reaching out to those you don’t know”. Why not join us to make a difference and save lives.