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Meeting the Challenges of International Crises: The Experience of the Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2018

Nasim Sadat Hosseini Divkolaye
Affiliation:
International Affairs Department, Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization, Tehran, Iran Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
Fariba Seighali*
Affiliation:
Blood Transfusion Research Center, High Institute for Research & Education on Transfusion Medicine, Tehran, Iran
Ali Akbar Pourfathollah
Affiliation:
Blood Transfusion Research Center, High Institute for Research & Education on Transfusion Medicine, Tehran, Iran Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Mitra Radfar
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Shahid Beheshti Medical University, Tehran, Iran
Frederick M. Burkle Jr
Affiliation:
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Fariba Seighali, Blood Transfusion Research Center, High Institute for Research & Education in Transfusion Medicine, Postal Box 146651157, IBTO BLDG, Hemmat EXPY, Adjacent to Milad Tower, Tehran, Iran (e-mail: [email protected]).

Abstract

Crises require a timely and well-prepared response by health services, especially those that are directly engaged with the lives of the patients such as blood services. The Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization as a single national authority of blood transfusion has left many crises behind. In this study, we examined the main international crises that the blood transfusion organization has faced during its 44-year history and objectively evaluated the methods for crisis risk reduction, both administrative and operational, all of which have led to fundamental advances in the organization. By proper planning and effective strategy setting, the Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization has managed to cope with international threats and in some cases has turned threats into opportunities to implement new, permanent administrative and operational strategies. It is not prudent for blood transfusion centers to develop their disaster risk reduction strategies on an individual-country basis in a world where global risk and crisis factors are rapidly increasing. Reduction of risk for blood transfusion centers must become a strategic priority nationally and globally. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:410-413)

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 

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