Héma-Québec calls for more blood donations from black community

Héma-Québec is using Black History Month to seek out more blood donors from the black community.

The agency said the black community has high rates of sickle-cell anemia, a hereditary blood disease that is treated through regular blood transfusions.

It is concerned about its blood supply as new screening measures for sickle-cell anemia are likely to increase the number of patients requiring transfusions. 

Finding matching donors is easier among people of the same racial origin, the agency said today in a news release.

Héma-Québec has had difficulty collecting blood donations from the black community in the past. There were only 200 active donors as recently as 2010.

But that number has since jumped to more than 4,000.  

"Héma-Québec has a mission to provide blood products to hospitals and, ultimately, satisfy the specific needs of patients in all regions," Naderge Ceneston, a cultural communities advisor with Héma-Québec, said in the news release.

"It can only attain its objectives with the participation of all the communities, including the Black communities, in which the number of patients with specific transfusion needs has almost doubled since the start of the recruiting program."

As part of its Black History Month campaign, Héma-Québec will hold a blood drive Feb. 20 at the Centre d'éducation des adultes in Montreal's Little Burgundy neighbourhood.