Support for blood transfusion research in Africa
Blood banking in Africa faces challenges because of the lack of safe and stable blood donors as well as a range of infectious diseases that make screening difficult in resource-poor settings. Evidence for policy and practice in blood transfusion has almost exclusively been generated by Europe and North America, and is often inappropriate for African contexts. It is therefore important for African researchers to generate research about blood transfusion and put the findings into policy and practice in Africa. The EU-funded project T-REC(opens in new window) (Building research capacity of blood transfusion services in Africa) connected African transfusion practitioners and managers who have in-depth knowledge of the needs and challenges of their transfusion services with academics experienced in designing and conducting international quality research. T-REC strengthened research capacity at individual, institutional and national levels through training for undergraduates, postgraduates and professionals. The project supported 4 PhD students from Ghana and Zimbabwe, provided bursaries for 46 undergraduate and postgraduate researchers, and trained 44 health professionals. In Ghana, T-REC helped create a Research Uptake Group to review research, provide advice and encourage uptake of blood transfusion research. This group feeds into the National Research Steering Committee, and research findings of the PhD students and Diploma in Project Design and Management students will be useful at this level. The blood service in Zimbabwe held a national consultation in February 2015 to decide how to use its research experience, including lessons from the T-REC collaboration, to improve the safety and availability of blood. Finally, T-REC created a list of priority research topics in this area for future work in sub-Saharan Africa. Through training, support and infrastructure provision, T-REC activities will boost research in blood transfusion in the region, leading to improved public health in the long term.