Doctoral Dissertation Research: Priorities in the Safety and Sustainability of Blood Banks

许多挽救生命的医疗方法依赖于输血、分娩、手术、急诊护理和血液病患者治疗时充足和安全的血液供应。血液是一种有限的资源，它依赖于志愿献血者和成功的公共宣传活动。血液服务机构还必须确保供应的安全，即监测献血过程，以防止血液传播感染（包括艾滋病毒）的传播，并减轻对患者和献血者的不利健康影响。该项目以可持续性和安全为重点，将审查血液供应的各种实际和社会方面，从献血者的营销和招聘到献血者管理信息系统的实施，以及医院有效使用血液。该项目对一名研究生进行经验、科学数据收集和分析方法的培训，其结果将传播给管理和制定与血液安全做法相关政策的组织。这项研究还促进了国际科学合作，并将扩大一个代表性不足的群体在科学领域的参与。在布朗大学的Sherine Hamdy博士的指导下，Emily Avera将探索在维持血库安全方面哪些因素是优先考虑的。该项目将主要在南非开展，那里的血液服务机构已经建立了世界上最严格和最有效的血液安全系统之一。血液安全官员关心的是多样性和可持续性。他们主张增加来自更多样化的人群（例如青年、不同种族）的献血者参与，这不仅是社会代表性的可持续性问题，也是利用不同血型与某些人群的统计相关性的问题。由于受过人类学培训，研究人员完全有能力解决与血液有关的相关文化和象征意义，以及与健康公平和安全有关的社会问题。除了极其多样化的人口外，南非的血液服务还必须考虑到艾滋病毒高流行率和公平资源分配等主要社会挑战。为了分析南非各机构如何应对这些挑战，研究人员将对血液服务办公室、献血者外展活动、血液安全非政府组织和公立医院血液学部门的活动进行定期的长期观察和数据收集，并对组织工作人员、患者和献血者进行访谈。该研究人员还将分析相关的教育材料和媒体，以评估语言和文化方面发展关于血液安全和献血的有效、科学合理的公共传播。该项目的研究结果将直接有助于评估和改进献血者的外展和教育、安全措施、血液服务信息管理以及血液供应的有效和公平分配，不仅在南非，而且在包括美国在内的大多数使用输血药物的国家。

Many life-saving medical treatments rely on an adequate and safe blood supply for transfusion, during childbirth, surgery, emergency care, and therapy for patients with blood-based diseases. A finite resource, blood relies on volunteer donors and successful public outreach campaigns. Blood services must also ensure the safety of the supply, namely monitoring the donation process to prevent the transmission of blood borne infections (including HIV) and mitigating adverse health effects on patients and donors. Focusing on the concerns of sustainability and safety, this project will examine various practical and social aspects of blood supply, ranging from donor marketing and recruitment to the implementation of donor management information systems, as well as the efficient hospital use of blood. Findings from this project, which trains a graduate student in methods of empirical, scientific data collection and analysis, will be disseminated to organizations that manage and develop policy related to blood safety practices. The research also fosters international scientific cooperation, and will broaden participation of an underrepresented group in the sciences.Emily Avera, under the supervision of Dr. Sherine Hamdy of Brown University, will explore what factors are prioritized in the maintenance of safety in blood banks. The project will take place primarily in South Africa, where the blood services have established one of the most stringent and effective blood safety systems in the world. Blood safety officials' are concerned with diversity and sustainability. They advocate for increased donor participation from a more diverse cross-section of the populace (e.g. youth, various ethnicities), as matter of sustainability not only for social representation, but to also leverage the statistical correlation of different blood types with certain populations. Equipped with anthropology training, the researcher is well positioned to address the pertinent cultural and symbolic meanings attached to blood, alongside the social issues related to health equity and safety. In addition to an incredibly diverse population, South African blood services must also reckon with chief societal challenges such as high HIV prevalence and equitable resource distribution. To analyze how South African institutions have dealt with these challenges, the researcher will conduct regular long-term observation and data collection of activities in blood services' offices, donor outreach drives, blood safety NGO's, and a public hospital hematology unit, as well as interviews with organizational staff, patients, and donors. The researcher will also analyze relevant educational materials and media to assess linguistic and cultural aspects of developing effective, scientifically sound public communication about blood safety and donation. The findings of this project will directly contribute to evaluating and improving donor outreach and education, safety measures, blood service information management, and efficient and equitable distribution of the blood supply not only in South Africa, but in a majority of countries - including the U.S. - where transfusion medicine is used.