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

许多挽救生命的医疗依赖于充足和安全的血液供应，用于输血、分娩、手术、急诊和血液疾病患者的治疗。作为一种有限的资源，血液依赖于志愿捐助者和成功的公共宣传活动。血液服务还必须确保供应安全，即监测献血过程，以防止血液传播感染（包括艾滋病毒），并减轻对患者和献血者健康的不利影响。该项目将重点关注可持续性和安全性问题，审查血液供应的各种实际和社会方面，从献血者营销和招募到献血者管理信息系统的实施，以及医院有效使用血液。该项目培训一名研究生掌握经验、科学数据收集和分析方法，其研究结果将分发给管理和制定与血液安全做法有关的政策的组织。这项研究还促进了国际科学合作，并将扩大代表性不足的群体对科学的参与。艾米丽阿维拉在布朗大学的谢琳·哈姆迪博士的监督下，将探讨在维护血库安全方面，哪些因素是优先考虑的。该项目将主要在南非进行，南非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口群体（例如青年、各族裔）的捐助者参与，这不仅是社会代表性的可持续性问题，而且也是利用不同血型与某些人口的统计相关性的问题。配备了人类学培训，研究人员能够很好地解决相关的文化和象征意义附加到血液，以及有关健康公平和安全的社会问题。除了令人难以置信的多样化人口，南非血液服务还必须考虑主要的社会挑战，如艾滋病毒高流行率和公平的资源分配。为了分析南非机构如何应对这些挑战，研究人员将对血液服务办公室、捐助者外联活动、血液安全非政府组织和公立医院血液科的活动进行定期长期观察和数据收集，并采访组织工作人员、患者和捐助者。研究人员还将分析相关的教育材料和媒体，以评估发展有效，科学合理的血液安全和献血公众沟通的语言和文化方面。该项目的研究结果将直接有助于评估和改善献血者的宣传和教育、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.