The NBTS consists of six regional blood transfusion centers (RBTC), which collect, process, test, and distribute blood, and nine satellite centers, which distribute blood to health facilities. The NBTS collaborates with three partners for mobilization of volunteer blood donors among high school, college and university students, community- and faith-based organizations, and adults in the work place. Other partners strengthen hospital transfusion practices; raise awareness on blood transfusion through media and offer technical assistance to NBTS.
Since 2004, PEPFAR complements Kenya Government efforts in achieving blood safety for the country. Support has led to development of policies, procurement of reagents and equipment; infrastructural support; collection, screening, processing and appropriate use of blood; training of health workers and strengthening of a monitoring and evaluation system. The PEPFAR Blood Safety program has collaborated with stakeholders such as JICA, WHO and Global Fund. However the JICA blood safety project ends in 2009 creating a potential gap in activities and funding.
NBTS collected 124,190 units in 2007 from voluntary non remunerated donors, 25% of whom were regular repeat donors. HIV prevalence among donors declined from 6% in 2000 to 1.4% in 2008.
Despite great progress in blood safety and sufficiency some challenges remain. Current blood collections are 3-4 units per 1000 population. (WHO recommends 10-20 per 1000 population). The Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey (KAIS), 2007 showed that about a third of blood is collected in hospitals from family replacement donors. This is an improvement from 2003 when 80% of the donors were family replacement. Sustainable funding for blood safety is lacking.
NBTS partners have created linkages with communities, student and local celebrities to raise awareness on blood donations. One of the partners has engaged public-private partnerships resulting in up to $100,000 raised annually from local corporations in support of donor recruitment. NBTS has developed a referral mechanism for HIV-positive donors for care and treatment and is also developing a plan where prevention, counseling and testing programs will educate their clients about blood donation. NBTS will work with partners to develop standard HIV prevention packages for blood donors to ensure positive lifestyles so that they remain negative and continue donating blood. NBTS will collaborate with the PEPFAR Injection Safety program for waste management. Procurement of testing supplies will be synergized with Global Fund procurement.
Activities will build on achievements of PEPFAR-1 and align to Kenya National Strategic Plan-3 and the partnership framework whose objectives are to eliminate medical transmission in healthcare settings with emphasis on blood safety. Blood Safety Policies will be reviewed and implemented. This will include transitioning of NBTS to semiautonomous status and implementation of a cost recovery plan for sustainability through funding from bilateral donors like Global Fund and public-private-partnerships. Innovative methods to reach a broader blood donor base will be implemented such as market segmentation, mass media, use of cellular phone short text messaging technology and support for Club-25 donor clubs. Blood donation messages will be disseminated through Prevention, Counseling & Testing programs for the general population but not in programs targeting the most at risk populations who may compromise blood safety. Quality of blood services will be improved, through enrollment in external quality assurance, establishment of quality management systems and a roadmap to achieve WHO accreditation of all NBTS blood banks. Service contracts will be made for the preventive maintenance of testing and processing equipment and incinerators. Additional Infectious Disease Testing equipment will be installed in a second region of the country. Internet based blood bank laboratory information system will be reinforced and linked to key health facilities to improve monitoring and evaluation. Linkages with care and treatment for referral of HIV positive clients and programs that use a lot of blood such as malaria and obstetric will be strengthened. Blood utilization will be strengthened through improved cold chain maintenance and support for 20 hospital transfusion committees. To improve equity and access to safe blood more satellite blood centers will be built and transport systems strengthened by procurement of durable vehicles able to withstand all terrains. To improve human capacity development specialized training in blood transfusion medicine will be supported for physicians at Emory University or equivalent while technologists will be sponsored to attend higher diploma training in Transfusion Science at the Kenya Medical Training College.
Implementing Mechanism Indicator Information
(No data provided.)
Implementing Mechanism Details
Mechanism ID: 12082
Mechanism Name: Refugee Health
Funding Agency: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
