SAGE Open Medicine (Nov 2021)

Assessing the global burden of hemorrhage: The global blood supply, deficits, and potential solutions

  • Nakul P. Raykar,
  • Jennifer Makin,
  • Monty Khajanchi,
  • Bernard Olayo,
  • Alejandro Munoz Valencia,
  • Nobhojit Roy,
  • Pablo Ottolino,
  • Analia Zinco,
  • Jana MacLeod,
  • Mark Yazer,
  • Jayant Rajgopal,
  • Bo Zeng,
  • Hyo Kyung Lee,
  • Bopaya Bidanda,
  • Pratap Kumar,
  • Juan Carlos Puyana,
  • Kristina Rudd

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/20503121211054995
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

Read online

There is a critical shortage of blood available for transfusion in many low- and middle-income countries. The consequences of this scarcity are dire, resulting in uncounted morbidity and mortality from trauma, obstetric hemorrhage, and pediatric anemias, among numerous other conditions. The process of collecting blood from a donor to administering it to a patient involves many facets from donor availability to blood processing to blood delivery. Each step faces particular challenges in low- and middle-income countries. Optimizing existing strategies and introducing new approaches will be imperative to ensure a safe and sufficient blood supply worldwide.