The first pilot online training program for Haemovigilance was held on 23rd November to 27th November 2020 through the virtual portal, organized by WHO South East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi, in collaboration with JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research, Mysuru, Karnataka, India. 240 participants registered from 5 SEAR countries namely, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Maldives, and Timor Leste. 26 experts from 8 different countries participated and shared their domain knowledge and expertise. 26 pre-recorded audio-visual modules were relayed during the program, with 8 panel discussions for live interactions between the participants and the experts.
All the participating countries understood the need of haemovigilance in blood safety and showed their interest in development and implementation of Haemovigilance systems in their respective countries. The feedback collected from the participants on each day of the 5-day program showed that 100% of the participants were interested to attend such programs in the future. 92% of the participants opined that the learning experience of the program was excellent and 8% of them felt it was good. 90% of the participants were satisfied with the duration of the program and 84% felt that the timing of the program was appropriate (15:00 Hrs to 16:30 Hrs IST); However, 16% of the participants felt that the future programs should be planned with customized timing keeping in view of their country specific working hours. 82% of the participants had good internet connectivity throughout the program.
The representatives from countries where the hemovigilance system is yet to be developed were motivated to initiate and implement concepts learnt during the program for enhancing the safe transfusion practices. The participating countries felt that conduct of such online programs in future should be continued.