Released on the Friday ahead of World Blood Donor Day on June 14, the WHO study offers the most comprehensive assessment to date of blood systems around the world, based on data from 168 countries representing 97 percent of the world's population.
The report highlights Significant advances in blood donation and safety.. More than 85 percent of blood donations worldwide now come from unpaid voluntary donors, long considered the safest and most sustainable source of blood.
Progress remains uneven
While many countries have strengthened national blood systems and expanded access to safe transfusions, shortages, weak governance, and inadequate financing continue to limit access in many low- and middle-income countries.
“Access to sufficient and safe supplies of blood and blood products, together with safe transfusion practices, is a critical component of resilient health systems and a key enabler of universal health coverage,” wrote Deusdedit Mubangizi, Director of Policy and Standards for Medicines and Health Products at WHO, in the report's preface.
“Despite notable progress over the past decade, universal access to safe blood and blood products remains elusive for many countries.“
More than transfusions
A reliable blood supply is essential to treat a wide range of medical conditions, from severe bleeding during childbirth and emergency surgeries to the treatment of cancer, chronic blood disorders and severe anemia.
Donated plasma (the liquid portion of blood) is also used to make medications for people suffering from bleeding disorders, immune deficiencies, and other serious conditions.
When safe blood is not available, patients can die from otherwise treatable illnesses and injuries.
The report examines every stage of the transfusion chain, from donor recruitment and blood collection to laboratory testing, clinical use and access to plasma-derived medicines.
A continuous challenge
It identifies inadequate governance and unsustainable funding as some of the biggest obstacles facing national blood services in many countries.
It also notes ongoing efforts to diversify plasma collection and strengthen global supply chains for plasma-derived medicinal products, which remain inaccessible or unaffordable in many settings.
Achieving equitable access, WHO says, will require sustained political commitment, stronger national systems and continued international cooperation.
World Blood Donor Day
This year's World Blood Donor Day campaign has as its theme: “A drop of humanity. Donate blood. Life jacket.“
The campaign aims to encourage regular voluntary blood donation while highlighting what the WHO describes as the values of solidarity, compassion and shared responsibility that underpin safe blood systems around the world.
