Innovative blood transfusion strategies to address global blood deserts: a consensus statement from the Blood Delivery via Emerging Strategies for Emergency Remote Transfusion (Blood DESERT) Coalition

Nakul P Raykar¹, Vanitha Raguveer², Yetmgeta Eyayou Abdella³, Asma Ali-Awadh⁴, Harshit Arora⁵, Lucy Asamoah-Akuoko⁶, Linda S Barnes⁷, Andrew P Cap⁸, Aulina Chowdhury⁹, Zara Cooper¹⁰, Meghan Delaney¹¹, Marisa DelSignore¹², Sidra Inam¹³, Vijay Anand Ismavel¹⁴, Kennedy Jensen¹⁵, Nikathan Kumar¹⁶, Gilchrist Lokoel¹⁷, Joy John Mammen¹⁸, Priyansh Nathani¹⁹, Marie Paul Nisingizwe²⁰, Juan Carlos Puyana²¹, Robert Riviello²², Nobhojit Roy²³, Ali Salim²⁴, Claude Tayou-Tagny²⁵, Sargun Virk²⁶, Caroline Wesonga Wangamati²⁷

Affiliations

¹ Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: nraykar@bwh.harvard.edu.
² Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, WHO, Cairo, Egypt.
⁴ Sub-county Langata and Kibera, Nairobi Metropolitan Health Services, Nairobi, Kenya; Sisu Global Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁵ Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Research, Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation, National Blood Service, Accra, Ghana.
⁷ Biotherapies, AABB, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁸ US Army Institute of Surgical Research, Houston, TX, USA.
⁹ Department of Anesthesia, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁰ Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
¹² University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
¹³ Allied Hospital Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
¹⁴ Department of Surgery, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India.
¹⁵ Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA.
¹⁶ Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Surgery, University of California San Francisco, East Bay, Oakland, CA, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Medical Services, Turkana County Government, Lodwar, Kenya.
¹⁸ Department of Transfusion Medicine, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India.
¹⁹ Dr RN Cooper Municipal Medical College and General Hospital: Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Medical College and Rustom Narsi Cooper Municipal General Hospital, Mumbai, India; WHO Collaboration Center for Research in Surgical Care Delivery in Low and Middle Income Countries, Mumbai, India.
²⁰ Department of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
²¹ Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
²² Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
²³ Operative Care, Clinical Services and Systems, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
²⁴ Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
²⁵ Department of Haematology and Transfusion Medicine, University of Yaoundé, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
²⁶ WHO Collaboration Center for Research in Surgical Care Delivery in Low and Middle Income Countries, Mumbai, India.
²⁷ Coalition of Blood for Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.

PMID: 38365422
PMCID: PMC10882207
DOI: 10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00564-8

Review

Innovative blood transfusion strategies to address global blood deserts: a consensus statement from the Blood Delivery via Emerging Strategies for Emergency Remote Transfusion (Blood DESERT) Coalition

Nakul P Raykar et al. Lancet Glob Health. 2024 Mar.

. 2024 Mar;12(3):e522-e529.

doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00564-8.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: nraykar@bwh.harvard.edu.
² Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, WHO, Cairo, Egypt.
⁴ Sub-county Langata and Kibera, Nairobi Metropolitan Health Services, Nairobi, Kenya; Sisu Global Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁵ Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Research, Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation, National Blood Service, Accra, Ghana.
⁷ Biotherapies, AABB, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁸ US Army Institute of Surgical Research, Houston, TX, USA.
⁹ Department of Anesthesia, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁰ Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
¹² University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
¹³ Allied Hospital Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
¹⁴ Department of Surgery, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India.
¹⁵ Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA.
¹⁶ Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Surgery, University of California San Francisco, East Bay, Oakland, CA, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Medical Services, Turkana County Government, Lodwar, Kenya.
¹⁸ Department of Transfusion Medicine, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India.
¹⁹ Dr RN Cooper Municipal Medical College and General Hospital: Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Medical College and Rustom Narsi Cooper Municipal General Hospital, Mumbai, India; WHO Collaboration Center for Research in Surgical Care Delivery in Low and Middle Income Countries, Mumbai, India.
²⁰ Department of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
²¹ Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
²² Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
²³ Operative Care, Clinical Services and Systems, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
²⁴ Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
²⁵ Department of Haematology and Transfusion Medicine, University of Yaoundé, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
²⁶ WHO Collaboration Center for Research in Surgical Care Delivery in Low and Middle Income Countries, Mumbai, India.
²⁷ Coalition of Blood for Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.

PMID: 38365422
PMCID: PMC10882207
DOI: 10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00564-8

Abstract

In rural settings worldwide, many people live in effective blood deserts without access to any blood transfusion. The traditional system of blood banking is logistically complex and expensive for many resource-restricted settings and demands innovative and multidisciplinary solutions. 17 international experts in medicine, industry, and policy participated in an exploratory process with a 2-day hybrid seminar centred on three promising innovative strategies for blood transfusions in blood deserts: civilian walking blood banks, intraoperative autotransfusion, and drone-based blood delivery. Participant working groups conducted literature reviews and interviews to develop three white papers focused on the current state and knowledge gaps of each innovation. Seminar discussion focused on defining blood deserts and developing innovation-specific implementation agendas with key research and policy priorities for future work. Moving forward, advocates should prioritise the identification of blood deserts and address the context-specific challenges for these innovations to alleviate the ongoing crisis in blood deserts.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests We note that YEA works from the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, and his views expressed in this Viewpoint are personal. We declare no competing interests.

Figures

**Figure**
Resource allocation strategies A conceptual framework to identify the most appropriate innovative strategies for blood transfusion in blood deserts.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Innovative blood transfusion strategies to address global blood deserts: a consensus statement from the Blood Delivery via Emerging Strategies for Emergency Remote Transfusion (Blood DESERT) Coalition

Affiliations

Innovative blood transfusion strategies to address global blood deserts: a consensus statement from the Blood Delivery via Emerging Strategies for Emergency Remote Transfusion (Blood DESERT) Coalition

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical