Mizzima: Blood transfusion situatio

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World Health Day: Blood transfusion situation in Burma has improved,
says WHO

New Delhi, April 7, 2000
Mizzima News Group

Concerned about the fact that millions of people around the world do not
have access to safe blood supplies, the World Health Organization (WHO)
has dedicated World Health Day 2000 to blood safety, with the slogan:
Safe blood starts with me: blood saves lives?

Since 1950, the WHO has been celebrating World Health Day on 7 April
each year. This year WHO?s birthday celebration is being joined by the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Their
new partnership aims to increase public awareness and understanding of
blood safety through voluntary, non-remunerated blood donation from
low-risk populations.

Speaking to the media in New Delhi yesterday, WHO Regional Director for
South-East Asia Dr Uton Muchtar Rafei warned that safety of blood
transfusion is a serious problem in many parts of the world, including
the WHO?s South-East Asia Region. ?Today 80 per cent of the global
population, which lives in developing countries, has access only to 20
per cent of the global supply of safe blood,? said Dr. Uton.

He said that safety of transfused blood is a crucial issue as
transfusion transmitted diseases, like HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B & C, cause
incalculable harm. Of the 5.5 million people estimated to have HIV
infections in the Region, 5-10 per cent are transfusion induced.

WHO?s South-East Asia Region has ten member states: Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Burma, Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Dr Uton said that there is a severe shortfall of available blood in the
Region. Estimated 15 million blood units are required every year whereas
only 7 million blood units are collected. ?People, particularly the
youth, must be informed about the importance of blood safety, so that
they can get into a habit of regularly donating blood. If only one per
cent of the population regularly donated blood, and together with strict
screening, there would be an adequate supply of safe blood,? added Dr.
Uton.


Dr. Jai P. Narain, Regional Advisor (STD, TB & AIDS) to WHO said that
blood transfusion situation in Burma has improved quite remarkably in
the last 3 to 4 years. ?Earlier about 30 per cent of blood was screened
for HIV. Now I think it has increased up to 90 per cent. But, one of the
major problems in Burma has been the limitation of resources,? said Dr.
Jai P. Narain.

He also added that blood transfusion in Burma is quite high due to
voluntary blood donation of the people. ?Voluntarism is still very much
high as far as Myanmar (Burma) is concerned. People are very much
interested to contribute to the development of their community. Number
of people who comes forward for blood transfusion is quite high compared
to, for example, India. I have been to some of the areas in Myanmar
where I have seen that the community itself builds the primary health
centers,? said Dr. Jai P. Narain.