Somali Prime Minister Hamsa Abdi Barre inaugurated the long-awaited re-opening of the National Blood Bank in Mogadishu on Saturday.
Accompanied by the Minister of Health and other government officials, the Prime Minister highlighted the government’s strategic focus on enhancing social services, particularly in Health and Education.
The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare spearheaded the construction of the blood bank, a significant achievement considering the nation’s vulnerability to recurring disasters, especially terror attacks.
When Somalia’s biggest bomb blast killed more than 500 people in 2017, the Mogadishu residents underscored the urgent need for accessible blood resources, as many injured lost their lives due to uncontrolled bleeding.
Lack of access to safe blood is a major cause of maternal death. Each year, 5,000 Somali women die from childbirth complications, according to 2017 data from the United Nations Children’s Fund, the latest year for which data was available. That same year, there were 740 terror-related deaths, according to the Global Terrorism Index.
The National Blood Bank, established in 1976, has not been operational for nearly thirty years, and its re-operation will meet the great need of the Somali people to have access to blood.
