Status of blood transfusion in World Health Organization-Eastern Mediterranean Region (WHO-EMR): Successes and challenges.

BACKGROUND: Blood products are used for patient treatment and survival in the cases of major surgery, hematological disorders or cancer therapy. Presently the main blood components are not yet replaceable by artificial products and all activities related to blood transfusion is highly dependent on the healthcare development of each country. The World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Region (WHO-EMR) comprises of 21 member states with variable socio-economic status effective on blood transfusion activities. The fundamental motivation behind this research was to accumulate some data of blood practices in this region and to have an appropriate image of the WHO-EMR region.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The data were collected through the published papers or data, blood transfusion services websites, and the other health official websites like WHO.

RESULTS: Among WHO-EMR countries there are some with a nationally organized blood transfusion establishment such as Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, and Syria. In a few, blood transfusion administrations are hospital-based like Saudi Arabia. The others are run by Red Crescent such as Bahrain, Tunisia and UEA or by Red Cross like Lebanon. Only Iran and UAE succeed to have 100% voluntary non-remunerated blood donors; however, most of them are still under the weight of family/replacement blood donation such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Sudan or even paid donors like Pakistan and Yemen. The haemovigilance and training programs have been implemented in some countries including Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and UAE. Unfortunately, there are rare and inaccessible information about some EMR states like Djibouti, Palestine and Somalia so that little data can be independently discovered.

CONCLUSION: In these countries different measures ought to be additionally designated to ensure blood products adequacy and safety such as the development of well-coordinated national blood transfusion centers with the increased government commitment, the establishment of a well-organized system for voluntary non-remunerated blood donor recruitment, the establishment of well-equipped laboratories for screening donor samples for transfusion transmitted infections (TTIs) for at least mandatory tests recommended by WHO, the implementation of an educational/training program for professionals working in the blood transfusion establishments or hospitals, the regular audit on the quality and the integrity of the blood transfusion chain, and the development of a regional network of collaboration to bolster the neighboring nations in the EMR through effective communication tools.