Safe Blood Starts with Me - libdoc.who.int - World Health Organization

(which in reality includes aproportion of “professional” illegaldonors) passed from 66% to 90%of total of blood donors. Stocks ofblood fell to critically low levels,exacerbating the illegal trade ofblood. As a consequence of morepaid donors, during the sameperiod, the prevalence of units ofblood collected in Phnom Penhtesting HIV positive rose from3.5% to 5.6%, the highestprevalence in the Asian andWestern Pacific Region (seegraph).Partnerships were needed todevelop a sustainable programmefor the recruitment of safe blooddonors. The CRC, with its nationalnetwork of volunteers, wasperceived as an ideal partner, butsubject to lengthy negotiations,and in August 1999 WHO’sWestern Pacific Regional Office(WPRO) initiated an assessment ofthe situation to try to solvepriority problems, especially therecruitment of voluntary blooddonors and the critical shortage ofblood. This collaboration providedimmediate results, with thepercentage of voluntary donationsthrough mobile blood collectionsincreasing substantially during thelatter half of the year, and amarked reduction in theprevalence of HIV among blooddonations (especially in PhnomPenh).World Health DayWithin this context, thecelebration of World Health Daywas particularly opportune tostrengthen visibility of theseefforts, especially among officialsat the MoH, policy makers andpotential partners like CRC.A mass campaign was designedand launched at the end of 1999.Safe Blood Started With Dr Hong SunHuot, Minister of Health of CambodiaA special working group with staffof the NBTC participated in allphases of the campaign, thepriority objectives of which were:— To prepare the celebration ofWorld Health Day 2000;— To increase the number ofblood units collected fromvoluntary donors at the NBTC;— To raise awareness amongdecision and policy makers atthe MoH and other ministriesof the importance of bloodsafety issues in the provision ofgood quality health services;— To raise awareness among thegeneral population of issuesrelated to the lack of blood,voluntary blood donations, andthe risks linked with theutilization of paid donors;— To promote voluntary blooddonation among identified lowriskpopulations;— To re-open negotiations withthe IFRC and the CRC in apartnership programme forblood donor recruitment.Minister awards safe blood donorIn February 2000, the IFRC andthe CRC joined the working group,which was a huge boost for theNBTC team and enlarged thescope of potential activities. Thefollowing summarizes some of themajor events that spanned WHDand well beyond.A ceremony held on 7 April atthe Ministry of Health waspresided by His Excellency DrHung Sun Huot, Minister of Healthand attended by high rankinggovernment officials. In theirpresentations, WHO, IFRC andCRC representatives stressed theurgency of blood safety. For thefirst time in Cambodia, regularvoluntary blood donors werepublicly congratulated and issuedwith a certificate signed by theMinister of Health. These101 ▲ WORLD HEALTH DAY ▼ SAFE BLOOD STARTS WITH ME