Safe Blood and Blood Products Distance Learning Material - Guidelines and Principles for Safe Blood Transfusion Practice Safe Blood Donation Screening for HIV Blood Group Serol

Ensuring the safety of blood for transfusion is a key prevention strategy in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Providing safe blood is a multi-step process from the recruitment and selection of low-risk blood donors to its issue for transfusion. The training of all staff involved in this process is essential to ensure the safety and adequacy of the blood supply. Many countries lack the capacity to provide comprehensive training for all staff involved in blood transfusion. These learning materials have therefore been designed specifically for use in distance learning programmes in blood safety--a flexible, cost-effective way of increasing access to training whilst making the best use of limited training resources. The modules have been designed for staff responsible for donor recruitment blood collection and the processing and issue of blood for transfusion. The interactive practical style with learning objectives activities self-assessment questions progress checks and action plans encourages users to focus on improving approaches and procedures in their own blood centre or hospital blood bank. Most of the training is designed to take place at the workplace in the context of the performance of daily work. The modules have been updated in this 2nd edition to reflect scientific and technical developments since the first issue. They consist of a set of four spiral-bound modules and a Trainer s Guide. Through the development of these materials WHO aims to support national blood programmes in ensuring the safety of national blood supplies and their accessibility and appropriate use for all patients who require transfusion.