Biba Tinga
Caregiver, President/Executive Director at the Sickle Cell Disease Association of Canada
The Need for Blood for Sickle Cell
More than 6,500 people in Canada live with sickle cell disease, a severe, inherited blood disorder that causes stroke, organ damage, excruciating pain and shortened life expectancy. For many, donated blood is not simply supportive care—it is lifesaving treatment.
But here is the problem: Canada does not have enough of the right blood for everyone who needs it. Patients requiring repeated transfusions need blood that is closely matched to reduce complications. Because blood-group characteristics are inherited, donors from similar ancestral backgrounds are especially important.
Canada cannot claim to have a truly inclusive blood system while patients struggle to find compatible blood.
This makes sickle cell a blood-health issue—and a health-equity issue.
Systemic barriers, including Canada’s historical malaria-related donor deferral policies, have disproportionately limited blood donation from African, Caribbean and Black communities.
Canada cannot claim to have a truly inclusive blood system while patients struggle to find compatible blood.
Sickle cell must be part of Canada’s national blood-health conversation—now.
To learn more about Sickle Cell Disease, click here: https://sicklecelldiseasecanada.com/