The U.S.
military works with Asia-Pacific partner nations to improve Humanitarian
Assistance and Disaster Response capacity by helping ensure a reliable and
interoperable blood supply throughout the region.
Since 2009,
the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) Blood Safety Program has worked with civilian
and military agencies of partner nations such as Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam to
ensure an adequate response in the event of a disaster.
The program
strives towards ensuring that each nation’s blood supply is safe, sufficient,
and uses standardized measures.
To do so, it
works with all levels of host nation medical personnel from doctors and nurses
to lab technicians and health care administrators. It does this while encouraging a whole-of-
government approach to blood safety and to foster cooperation among partner
nations.
The combined
effort of the participants focuses on areas such as standardizing procedures
for donor selection, collection, infectious screening, compatibility testing,
and adverse response to transfusion.
It delves as
well into the administration of the blood supply which includes medical
equipment and construction of adequate facilities.
The PACOM
Blood Safety Program interacts with a variety of organizations, as in Cambodia,
where the U.S. Center for Disease Control, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
the World Health Organization, the Australian Red Cross, and the Global Fund
together developed a five-year strategic plan.
Participating
nations have already exchanged blood safety officials and discussed possible future
cooperation.
There are
opportunities to create a voluntary regional accreditation program for blood
facilities that could create a standard for other nations and help maintain
blood program capacity gains made to date.
Furthermore,
Asia-Pacific nations share common challenges to disaster response and could
benefit from sharing blood products in times of need.
The commitment
of the U.S. and partner nations drives the continued success of the PACOM Blood
Safety Program. Current efforts will be
strengthened and replicated through the region.
The PACOM
Blood Safety Program is a life-saving initiative for both military and civilian
personnel across the Asia-Pacific region.