Regional meeting on national blood transfusion services (NBTS) to review implementation of WHO Action Framework to Advance Universal Access to Safe Blood and Blood Products

Safe blood saves millions of lives each year. Provision of safe blood is a fundamental need for the health system of every country. Blood cannot be synthesized artificially. Human beings are the only source of this life-saving product. But unfortunately, a shortage of safe blood in developing countries often leads to unnecessary ill-health or death. Hence, there is an urgent need for more people to donate blood on a regular basis to save precious lives. Emergency situations (Manmade or natural disasters) further aggravates the shortages. Against an annual estimated minimum requirement of over 18 million units of blood in the South-East Asia Region, only around 15.9 million units are collected every year, of which around 82% of donated blood is obtained from voluntary unpaid donors (GDBS data). WHO is continuously providing technical support to member states (MSs) in augmenting the availability of safe blood and blood products. This meeting aimed to understand current status of NBTS of member states, further advocate Member States to promote VNRDs, rational clinical use of blood and blood products (plasma fractionation project), reducing unnecessary transfusions thus possibility of adverse reactions, quality testing of Transfusion Transmitted Infections (TTIs) to ensure safe blood, and to promote hemovigilance for adverse reactions in blood donors and recipients, identify challenges faced by NBTS of Member States and sharing success stories in maintaining safe blood supply during COVID 19 pandemic. This meeting also provided information of ways to scale up implementation of “WHO Action Framework to Advance Access to safe Blood and Blood Products” in country’s context.