Academy
Appropriate use of blood and blood components - haemovigilance symposium
The Kenya National Blood Transfusion and Transplant Service (KBTTS), organized a very successful 3-day haemovigilance symposium with the financial support of the ISBT Academy. This was organized by Gratia M. Muyu, coordinating Haemovigilance at KBTTS, Member of the ISBT Haemovigilance Working Party and a Seminar Committee Member of IHN.
Advancing blood safety is a crucial aspect of healthcare. Safe blood supply is an integral component of a healthcare delivery system. Haemovigilance is a critical component of ensuring blood safety and quality in healthcare settings. The Haemovigilance Symposium aimed to bring together experts, practitioners, policymakers, and stakeholders in the field of haemovigilance to share knowledge, experiences and best practices, ultimately advancing the safety of blood transfusion services and appropriate use of blood and components.
Maurice Wakwabubi (Chief Executive Officer, KBTTS) delivering keynote address to participants
Kenya is a signatory to the WHA resolution (WHA58.13 (2005)), committing member states to the provision of adequate supplies of safe blood and blood components for transfusion. The resolution also emphasizes a well-organized blood transfusion service. The Kenya Blood Transfusion and Transplant Services (KBTTS) is mandated to ensure increased access to safe blood transfusion services in the country. The total units of whole blood collected annually still fall below our annual requirements over the years with majority being family replacement donations. The service is organised in a hub and spoke model comprising 6 Regional Blood Transfusion Centres (RBTCs) and 43 Satellite Blood Transfusion Centres (SBTCs). RBTCs undertake blood collection, preparation of components, banking, distribution and screening blood for TTI whereas SBTCs collect, process blood and distribute.
With the increasing demand for blood and components, inappropriate use of this scarce resource and very few transfusion experts across our facilities, it is essential to promote education, awareness, and best transfusion practices among healthcare professionals. This three-day workshop was organized as an ISBT Academy event. We had up to 71 physical participants, an excess of the 56 that had been planned for. Due to oversubscription of the physical event, we considered a hybrid format and we managed to host 2777 online attendees on the first day, 2562 second day and 2972 on the third day. This demonstrates the thirst of knowledge amongst our healthcare workers.
Jamilla Rajab taking the participants through Blood Components Overview; Indications for Use
Participants were from government, private, faith-based facilities, teaching institutions, retail pharmacies and representatives of the Kenya National Blood Transfusion and Transplant Service (KNBTTS) and they constituted nurses, pharmacists, consultant obstetric and gynecologists, paediatricians, anaesthetists, general practitioners, medical laboratory scientists and clinical officers. This event was organized by the haemovigilance department, KNBTTS, at Muthu-Silver Springs Hotel on 15th 16th and 17th January, 2025.
The symposium ran from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm for three days with a chair covering each day. After each session we held a question and answer session for both physical and online attendees. The themes for the three days were 1) Understanding blood components and their uses, 2) patient blood management and appropriate use across different conditions and on the last day 3) Clinical Practices, technologies in transfusion and Future Directions.
Group picture with CEO of KBTTS, Facilitators Fatma Abdalla, Grace Kireki and participants
Some topics covered included overview of haemovigilance, different blood components and appropriate use, ethical considerations in blood transfusion, transfusion in special populations including paediatrics and neonates, obstetrics and gynecology, renal patients, Sickle Cell Disease, critical care, therapeutic apheresis, adverse events and reporting and some insights from SHOT by Shruthi Narayan. Very rich discussions arose after each presentation and learning really took place.
Overall the participants were extremely satisfied. They all agreed the training was so timely and promised to do their part in promoting appropriate use of this very scarce resource, blood and components. Written comments were also collected to facilitate constructive criticism and identify areas for improvement. The comments provided valuable insights into the participants' perceptions of the course, ranging from requests to have more and regular symposiums and make them bigger to accommodate more participants. We are really grateful to the ISBT Academy Foundation for supporting this event.
