Need For Blood Safety Crisis Regulation, Quality, Innovation
JONATHAN NDA-ISAIAH in this piece writes on the requirement for blood safety crisis regulation and innovation in Nigeria.
During the public hearing on the Expense for the Facility of a National Blood Service Commission, the sponsor of the proposed law, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, exposed that his daughter who was born with sickle cell disease was unfortunately transfused with blood contaminated with liver disease, and now copes with issues of both sickle cell illness and viral liver disease to this day.
Regretfully, this story is reflective of the experiences of countless Nigerians transfused with blood which is contaminated with diseases such as HIV, liver disease B, hepatitis C and syphilis, generally because the quality of blood services offered in health facilities across the nation differ substantially and there is currently no legal framework to manage and secure the blood transfusion chain from blood collection, screening, storage, transport and lastly to transfusion. While many companies endeavour to provide high quality blood transfusion services, these spaces which presently exist in the legal structure for blood services, are made use of by deceitful specialists for whom safety and quality of the blood they provide are not a factor to consider.
It is explanatory to note that Nigeria currently has the greatest sickle cell illness concern on the planet, with more than 150,000 babies born with the illness every year, approximately 70– 90% of whom will sadly and ultimately die prior to they achieve the age of five years, and the nation contributes almost one quarter of global maternal deaths, with over 180 females passing away every day from pregnancy or during shipment– and this is mostly from bleeding. In addition, trauma from road traffic mishaps, conflict and insurgency impose an immediate requirement to have a high quality, safe, readily available, and budget friendly national blood supply to conserve lives, thus stressing the need for a National Blood Service Commission.Accordingly, Nigeria’s National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS), which presently exists as part of the Federal Ministry of Health, began operations in 2007 as a result of funding from the United States( United States )President’s Emergency situation Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)and the United States Centre for Disease Control(CDC). With financing from the United States government, the NBTS head office and her 17 blood collection, screening and distribution centres were developed nationwide throughout the six geopolitical zones and Abuja the Federal Capital Area. The goals of the NBTS were to actively alter attitudes to encourage voluntary unpaid blood contributions; recognize people and populations at risk for HIV and other blood-borne infections, and to evaluate blood at greater requirements and decrease the threats of infections from blood transfusion to increase the security of Nigeria’s blood supply. However, following completion of the collaboration with the United States
federal government in 2015, the occurrence of infections such as HIV, liver disease B, liver disease C and syphilis which could be transferred through blood transfusion has increased in Nigeria. Presently, more than 10 per cent of brand-new HIV infections develop from unsafe blood transfusion, and more than 90 per cent of blood donors in Nigeria’s medical facilities are paid to donate blood and these are really frightening stats when one thinks about that paid blood donors provide the greatest risk of infections. It is long past due for Nigeria to leave from a blood service that is run as a worldwide moneyed project, to one that is owned, enabled, and empowered with the required legal backing to ensure the security of the country’s blood supply. A robust national blood service needs political will, suitable legislation, and appropriate resources. With the Federal Executive Council (FEC’s)approval for the facility of a National Blood Service Commission, political will by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has actually been developed. Suitable legislation in addition to the arrangements in Part IV, Sections 47 to 57 of the National Health Act of 2014, will ensure increased funding for blood security by the Nigerian government and offer chances for strong partnerships and cooperations that will see to the expansion of blood items made widely readily available and affordable to individuals of Nigeria. According to the head, Preparation, Research Study and Statistics for Nigeria’s National Blood Transfusion Service, a department of the Federal Ministry of Health and a senior fellow for Global Health with the Aspen Institute, Dr Adaeze Oreh, the dedication of the current leadership of the Federal Ministry of Health under Dr Osagie Ehanire to see to the passage of the National Blood Solutions Commission (NBSC)Bill, and the push for commercialisation through public-private partnerships in producing Plasma-derived Medicinal Products (PDMPs)and blood components is a strong political dedication; and the management of NBTS need to work assiduously to attain that objective. He said:” The abovementioned legal support would first, empower the blood service to ensure blood safety throughout the country by signing up, inspecting, and certifying blood facilities offering blood donation and transfusion services in Nigeria, therefore ensuring suitable collection, processing, storage and use of blood and blood products.”Second, a Blood Service Commission would be better positioned to coordinate blood transfusion services countrywide by teaming up with state and city governments to help them establish efficient and effective blood transfusion services, that will guarantee the security of blood services in states and city government areas across Nigeria. To highlight an existing obstacle, in looking for efficient therapies to increase healings from serious COVID-19, a number of nations with robust and trusted blood services have actually started performing scientific trials to evaluate the efficiency of plasma collected from recuperated COVID-19 clients and transfused to serious and seriously ill contaminated clients. Since the blood services supplied in numerous states of the federation are sub-optimal, these trials can not be carried out widely to figure out the effectiveness in Nigeria.”Third, with enabling legislation, Nigeria would begin to establish a National Blood Reserve that is geared up to react to the nation’s particular blood requirements, and which can be quickly activated throughout national emergency situations. The efficient management of emergencies needs that evaluated blood and blood items are available in nationwide and regional blood banks at all times, and a number of nationwide disasters such as the 2014 bomb blasts, other acts of insurgency and current structure collapses have actually progressively highlighted the fragile state of Nigeria’s blood system. Nevertheless, with the right legal structure a Blood Service Commission would be primely positioned to make sure that a consistent pool of safe blood is constantly easily offered.”Last but not least, and certainly neither the least nor a final emphasize, funding is important to the operations of any efficient blood service, and while the conferment of a Commission status on the National Blood Service would guarantee annual financing from government, it would also offer chances for the blood service to draw in financiers and engage the personal sector to invest and boost the collection and shipment of separate blood parts that can be utilized locally, regionally and worldwide. This would open up a whole market, producing tasks, yielding extra profits to federal government, and lowering pressures on the national spending plan. Over the last twenty years, Rwanda is a nation that has gradually developed a high-quality national blood service, tripling blood donation rates and utilizing ingenious technology such as drones to deliver blood rapidly to
those in requirement across the nation. Voluntary blood donations, quality and development are crucial factors for the success of a nation’s blood service– concepts that would guide the National Blood Service Commission. Thousands of Nigerian households have actually needed to endure the discomfort of seeking treatment for one condition, just to be contaminated throughout treatment with polluted blood. This is completely inappropriate. The establishment of a National Blood Service Commission with the requisite legal authority to secure blood transfusion practices from collection all the method to transfusion will assist safeguard the lives of countless Nigerians in need of
safe blood, and this will protect many families from the unknown pain and suffering that comes from hazardous blood transfusion. Don’t look too far for validation, as all one has to do is to just ask the Abbas household, who have had to sustain this sort of pain every waking and sleeping moment of every spday since that fateful transfusion.