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White paper on pandemic preparedness in the blood supply
Paul Strengers1, Sheila F O'Brien2, Constantina Politis3,4
1Blood and Plasma Strategies, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Insights
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global blood supplies. Experts recommend developing preparedness plans for blood systems to mitigate future global health risks and ensure blood transfusion medicine resilience.
Area of Science:
- Transfusion Medicine
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- The World Health Organization declared SARS-CoV-2 a pandemic in March 2020, significantly disrupting global society and blood supply chains.
- The pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of blood systems to widespread health crises.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore strategies for enhancing the preparedness of blood systems for future pandemics.
- To identify risks, vulnerabilities, and innovative solutions for resilient blood supply chains.
Main Methods:
- An international online meeting was convened in 2022 with experts from six countries.
- Discussions focused on the value of preparedness, current risks, supply chain vulnerabilities, and innovation in blood systems.
Main Results:
- Seven key recommendations for improving pandemic preparedness in blood systems were formulated.
- These recommendations address actions needed at various organizational and governmental levels.
Conclusions:
- While SARS-CoV-2 presented unique challenges, increasing global health risks necessitate proactive preparedness plans for blood transfusion medicine.
- Failure to develop robust preparedness strategies could severely impact blood transfusion services during future health emergencies.
Background And Objectives:
In March 2020, the WHO declared the SARS-CoV-2 corona virus a pandemic which caused a great disruption to global society and had a pronounced effect on the worldwide supply of blood.
Materials And Methods:
In 2022 an on-line meeting was organised with experts from Austria, Canada, Germany, Greece, Netherlands and United States to explore the opportunities for increasing preparedness within blood systems for a potential future pandemic with similar, or more devastating, consequences. The main themes included the value of preparedness, current risks to the blood supply, supply chain vulnerabilities, and the role of innovation in increasing resiliency and safety.
Results:
Seven key recommendations were formulated and including required actions at different levels.
Conclusion:
Although SARS-CoV-2 might be seen as a unique event, global health risks are expected to increase and will affect blood transfusion medicine if no preparedness plans are developed.
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