The WHO study, released on Friday ahead of World Blood Donor Day on June 14, offers the most comprehensive assessment of blood systems worldwide to date, drawing on data from 168 countries representing 97 percent of the global population.
The report highlights significant advances in blood donation and safety. More than 85 percent of blood donations worldwide now come from voluntary unpaid 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 funding continue to limit access in many low- and middle-income countries.
“Access to adequate, safe supplies of blood and blood products, combined with safe transfusion practices, is a fundamental component of resilient health systems and a critical enabler of universal health coverage,” Deusdedit Mubangizi, Director of Medicines and Health Products Policy and Standards at WHO, wrote in the report’s foreword.
“Despite remarkable 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 for the treatment of a wide range of medical conditions, from severe bleeding during childbirth and emergency surgery to cancer treatment, chronic blood disorders and severe anaemia.
Donated plasma – the liquid part of blood – is also used to produce medicines for people living with bleeding disorders, immune deficiencies and other serious conditions.
When safe blood is not available, patients can die from diseases and injuries that are otherwise treatable.
The report examines all steps in the transfusion chain, from donor recruitment and blood collection to laboratory testing, clinical use and access to plasma-derived medicines.
An ongoing challenge
It identifies inadequate governance and unsustainable funding as among the biggest obstacles to national blood services in many countries.
It also notes ongoing efforts to diversify plasma collection and strengthen global supply chains for plasma-derived medicines, which remain unavailable or unaffordable in many contexts.
Achieving equal 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 is themed: “A drop of humanity. Give blood. Save lives.“
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 worldwide.
