TEHRAN – The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO) reviewed bilateral cooperation over the next four years in an online meeting on Wednesday.

In August 2021, the Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization and the High Institute for Research and Education in Transfusion Medicine were selected for the third time as partner centers of the WHO.

The programs include a workshop on centralization and management of blood transfusion centers, a workshop on purification and optimal use of plasma, and two research projects on the management of blood donors and the study of blood health and adequacy in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Iran is the first country in the Eastern Mediterranean region that has enjoyed voluntary blood donation by 100 percent since 2007. It was further decided that the workshop on centralization and management of blood transfusion centers, as the first activity of the partner center, would be held online in July for four days and two hours every day for the member countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Office.

Moreover, the IBTO will help implement the World Health Organization strategies on blood health and adequacy in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Blood donation in Iran

Blood donation in Iran has long been done voluntarily as over 2.1 million Iranians donate blood annually, the IBTO spokesman Bashir Haji-Beigi said on June 14, 2021.

There are currently 178 blood donation centers in the country, with Fars, Khorasan Razavi, Khuzestan, Tehran, and Mazandaran provinces having the largest number of blood donation centers, he stated.

Highest blood donation in Eastern Mediterranean

While blood donation in 70 countries still depends on replacement or paid donors, Iran is the first country in the region that has enjoyed voluntary blood donation by 100 percent since 2007.

More than 85 percent of all donated blood worldwide is used to produce blood products, while the rate is 65 percent in Eastern Mediterranean countries. Iran ranks among the highest-income countries in terms of converting more than 97 percent of the blood donated by people to plasma-derived medicinal products (PDMP).

Only 55 of 171 countries produce PDMP through the fractionation of plasma collected in the reporting country. A total of 90 countries reported that all PDMP are imported, 16 countries reported that no PDMP was used during the reporting period, and 10 countries did not respond to the question, according to WHO.

Iran currently has the highest blood donation rate in the Eastern Mediterranean region so out of 9.9 million blood donation units in this region, more than two million belongs to Iran.

Also, the index of blood donation is 25 per 1,000 populations, while in the member states of the Eastern Mediterranean region, this number is 14.9 per 1000.

FB/MG