Strengthening Blood Regulatory Systems to Tackle Africa's Unmet Needs for Blood and Blood Products

Washington T Samukange; Chancelar Kafere; Kristina Heinrich; George T Sabblah; Mwewa M Siame; Libert Chirinda; Jens Reinhardt; Anneliese Hilger

doi:10.1159/000528077

Strengthening Blood Regulatory Systems to Tackle Africa's Unmet Needs for Blood and Blood Products

Transfus Med Hemother. 2022 Dec 22;50(2):123-128. doi: 10.1159/000528077. eCollection 2023 Apr.

Authors

Washington T Samukange^{1

2}, Chancelar Kafere¹, Kristina Heinrich¹, George T Sabblah³, Mwewa M Siame⁴, Libert Chirinda⁵, Jens Reinhardt⁶, Anneliese Hilger⁶

Affiliations

¹ Division of Major Policy Issues, Coordination, Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Langen, Germany.
² Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
³ Safety Monitoring Department, Food and Drugs Authority, Accra, Ghana.
⁴ National Pharmacovigilance Unit, Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority, Lusaka, Zambia.
⁵ Pharmacovigilance and Clinical Trials Division, Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.
⁶ Division Haematology and Transfusion Medicine, Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Langen, Germany.

Abstract

Background: Assuring the quality and safety of blood and blood components is an essential element of health care in all countries and requires government commitment and legal frameworks. Ineffective regulation of blood and blood components has far-reaching consequences that are not limited to the affected countries but also have extensive global implications.

Summary: In this review, we summarize the work of the project BloodTrain funded by the German Ministry of Health within the framework of the Global Health Protection Programme to strengthen regulatory structures in Africa that are imperative to guarantee the improved availability, safety, and quality of blood and blood products.

Key messages: Intense interaction with the stakeholders in African partner countries lead to first measurable successes in the strengthening of blood regulation, as shown here for hemovigilance.

Keywords: Africa; Blood safety; Hemovigilance; Regulation of blood and blood products.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Health's Global Health Protection Programme based on a decision by the German Bundestag (Grant project number: 323 123002).