Making Global Blood Safety a Priority

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Making Global Blood Safety a Priority

Nature Medicine (01/95) Vol. 1, No. 1, P. 7
Butler, Declan

In December, leading politicians from 42 countries promised at the Paris AIDS summit to make improving blood safety a priority. Many governments, however, still do not recognize the need to organize proper blood transfusion systems, enforce appropriate standards, and train staff. The international community has yet to make blood safety a priority and to take advantage of the opportunity to eliminate the cause of up to 10 percent of all HIV infections. Jean Emmanuel, head of the WHO's blood safety unit, notes that the international community does not need to spend huge amounts of money to make major changes in blood safety. Promoting voluntary and unpaid blood donations, and testing and retaining regular groups of healthy donors could significantly limit the damage in areas that lack the funding or facilities for screening. Still, without political commitment and funding from the international community and from governments in developing countries, such counsel will come to nothing. So far, little new money has been forthcoming for either the WHO's new blood unit or the alliance's programs, but WHO officials are optimistic that if the alliance can put forward solid proposals it will obtain funding.

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