Blood Donors

The WHO guidelines on assessing donor suitability for blood donation have been developed to assist blood transfusion services in countries that are establishing or strengthening national systems for the selection of blood donors. They are designed for use by policy makers in national blood programmes in ministries of health, national advisory bodies such as national blood commissions or councils, and blood transfusion services.

Individuals who donate their blood provide a unique and precious gift in an act of human solidarity. In order to donate blood, prospective donors should be in good health and free from any infections that can be transmitted through transfusion. Most blood donors perceive themselves to be healthy, but some are unsuitable to donate blood due to the potential risk of compromising or worsening their own health or the risk of transmission of infections to patients. Blood transfusion services (BTS) have a duty of care towards blood donors as well as to the recipients of transfusion. This duty of care extends to prospective donors who are deferred from donation--whether on a temporary or permanent basis--as well as those who donate blood and are subsequently found to have unusual or abnormal test results. BTS have a responsibility to confirm test results and provide information, counseling and support to enable these individuals to understand and respond to unexpected information about their health or risk status. Counseling is part of the spectrum of care that a BTS should be able to provide to blood donors--including referral to medical practitioners or specialist clinical services. Pre-donation counseling was recognized as one element of the strategy to reduce and, if possible, prevent the donation of blood by individuals who might be at risk for HIV and other TTI including hepatitis B and C viruses as well as to inform the donor of the donation process and testing of blood for HIV. Post-donation counseling was acknowledged to be a necessary element of donor management as an adjunct to informing donors of unusual or abnormal test results. Blood donor counseling by trained specialist staff is now considered to be a key component of the blood system in most countries with a well-developed blood transfusion service. It may be required at a number of stages in the blood donation process or following blood screening and should be available at any point at which the BTS has an interface with donors. In many countries, however, blood donor counseling is not yet available in a structured way. Blood Donor Counselling: Implementation Guidelines has therefore been developed to provide guidance to blood transfusion services that have not yet established donor counseling programs.

This volume discusses the current state of the nation's blood supply--including studies of blood availability, ways of enhancing blood collection and distribution, frozen red cell technology, logistical concerns in prepositioning frozen blood, extended liquid storage of red cells, and blood substitutes.

Richard Titmuss (1907-1973) was a pioneer in the field of social administration (now social policy). In this reissued classic, listed by the New York Times as one of the 10 most important books of the year when it was first published in 1970, he compares blood donation in the US and UK, contrasting the British system of reliance on voluntary donors to the American one in which the blood supply is in the hands of for-profit enterprises, concluding that a system based on altruism is both safer and more economically efficient. Titmuss’s argument about how altruism binds societies together has proved a powerful tool in the analysis of welfare provision. His analysis is even more topical now in an age of ever changing health care policy and at a time when health and welfare systems are under sustained attack from many quarters.

During the early years of the AIDS epidemic, thousands of Americans became infected with HIV through the nation's blood supply. Because little reliable information existed at the time AIDS first began showing up in hemophiliacs and in others who had received transfusions, experts disagreed about whether blood and blood products could transmit the disease. During this period of great uncertainty, decision-making regarding the blood supply became increasingly difficult and fraught with risk. This volume provides a balanced inquiry into the blood safety controversy, which involves private sexual practices, personal tragedy for the victims of HIV/AIDS, and public confidence in America's blood services system. The book focuses on critical decisions as information about the danger to the blood supply emerged. The committee draws conclusions about what was doneâ€"and recommends what should be done to produce better outcomes in the face of future threats to blood safety. The committee frames its analysis around four critical area: Product treatmentâ€"Could effective methods for inactivating HIV in blood have been introduced sooner? Donor screening and referralâ€"including a review of screening to exlude high-risk individuals. Regulations and recall of contaminated bloodâ€"analyzing decisions by federal agencies and the private sector. Risk communicationâ€"examining whether infections could have been averted by better communication of the risks.

BAD BLOOD. BAD DRUGS. BAD BUGS. WELCOME TO THE FINGER. A Splatterfest with a Social Conscience from radical new voice in teen fiction, Steve Tasane.Peoples keep dyin' in the finger, the scuzzie old tower block where they put us antisociable families. Authorities say it dirty smack going round, but them bodies ain't all users ... an' they look like they die screamin'. Marshall O'Connor the First lives in the Finger with his mum and li'l bro. His dad's in prison, school kicked him out, and the bedbugs are drivin' him crazy. True, Marsh got himself some issues. But it ain't the drugs that peoples should be worryin' about, 'cos them bloodsuckin' bugs have grown some, and they ready for a bigger feed...

Phlebotomy uses large, hollow needles to remove blood specimens for lab testing or blood donation. Each step in the process carries risks - both for patients and health workers. Patients may be bruised. Health workers may receive needle-stick injuries. Both can become infected with bloodborne organisms such as hepatitis B, HIV, syphilis or malaria. Moreover, each step affects the quality of the specimen and the diagnosis. A contaminated specimen will produce a misdiagnosis. Clerical errors can prove fatal. The new WHO guidelines provide recommended steps for safe phlebotomy and reiterate accepted principles for drawing, collecting blood and transporting blood to laboratories/blood banks.