Regional
Driving progress in blood health: Highlights from the Malaysia PBM Conference 2025 - “Recipe for optimal blood health”
The Malaysian Society of Patient Blood Management (MyPBM) had successfully organized an international Patient Blood Management Conference from 13-15 February 2025, in Kuala Lumpur. The stage was set with the Launch of the 1st ever 24H Global Anemiathon being kicked off in the morning by Derek Muhs and Lydia Delaney of World Anemia Awareness community, along with a special video message from the Health Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Hj Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad. This Anemiathon was streamed to a global audience of 2 million viewers, and had a total of 70 million joining for the whole 24 hours of Anemiathon.
Over 300 delegates from all walks of life attended this hybrid conference that features astute speakers such as Prof. Dr Aryeh Shander who shared his experience in “Challenges for PBM Implementation” and Sherri Ozawa who spoke about “Structural Sexism in PBM”. Dr. Kevin Trentino enlightened all on “The Cost Effectiveness of PBM”, Dr. CK-Lee illustrated key performance indicators in PBM and Prof Dr Shannon Farmer discussed about the latest WHO implementation policy. The conference became more vibrant with the official ceremony launch in the afternoon when the Health Minister graced the event in person.
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Furthermore, the collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Society for Patient Blood Management (ASPBM) as joint organizer proved to be valuable. The partnership was cemented with good working relationship between the whole ASPBM team, led by organizing chair Prof. Dr Koh Jae Whoan, scientific chair Dr Lee JongHyeon and MyPBM team, led by the current President, Dr. Mandy Yap Yee Yee, the conference chair & MyPBM Secretary Dr Norasrina Ishak, past President Dr Jameela Sathar who is also the founding member and pioneer of PBM in Malaysia, along with Dr. Ananthi Krishnamoorthy the vice President of MyPBM and academic committee member of ASPBM. This proved to be synergistic as it brought a great mixture of speakers and participants from all over the world, such as South Korea, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Philippines and so on.
This is the second conference following the first enlightening event in Penang in July 2023. The response from the stakeholders, allied health practitioners, health care professionals and public had been overwhelming in this conference. The global networking that was established is instrumental in disseminating PBM knowledge both locally and internationally.
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The concept of PBM has shifted from judicious use of blood transfusion to patient focused via the optimization of one’s own blood health. With the involvement of stakeholders including Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad, Director-General of Health Datuk Dr. Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan, the head of Medical Development Division of Ministry of Health Dato’ Dr. Mohd Azman bin Yacob, this event had brought to attention that there is an urgent need to implement PBM in Malaysia, via top-down strategies. This conference had left behind huge impact with the meeting between Prof Dr. Shannon Farmer, a member of the WHO PBM steering committee expert with the Health Minister in order to ensure everyone will walk the talk.
Following the Health Minister's mandate, the Director-General and Medical Development Division are to work together for the smooth implementation of PBM nationwide, which will include data collection from the MyData Warehouse. A national PBM task force, which had been prior formed under the Medical Development Division, is now to step up its efforts to tackle all policy and strategies to be rolled out on the ground. To make things more synchronized and harmonized, Director-General of Health is slated to form a PBM commission as a governance body to empower the top-down strategies.
In future, it is hoped and envisioned that the blood transfusion service will evolve into blood health service so that the path to a bloodless future will be paved. It cannot be stressed enough that the collaborative efforts from all disciplines across the board is indeed the recipe for PBM accomplishment in Malaysia.
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A Recipe for Strength
Welcome, dear delegates from near and far,
Together, we gather to raise the bar.
For women and children, strong and free,
Iron is the key to vitality.
A silent loss, yet one we see,
Fatigue and weakness should not be.
Food and knowledge, hand in hand,
Will build resilience across the land.
So let us learn, let us share,
Blood health matters—handle with care.
With iron-rich choices and timely aid,
A stronger future will be made.
Receiving an award
