June 28, 2021
Developments on blood and plasma policy
Blood and plasma donations have been in the international agenda for many months now. At international level, June 14, marked World Blood Donor Day, as a landmark to celebrate donors of blood and plasma all over the world and thank them for their gift of life. IPOPI joined this landmark day by providing key messages to our NMOs to facilitate their participation in the global campaign.
Also at international level, IPOPI was invited to contribute to a World Health Organisation Guidance on how to increase supplies of plasma-derived medicinal products (PDMPS) in low- and middle-income countries through fractionation of domestic plasma. The Guidance recognises that the supply of PDMPs is profoundly deficient relative to patient needs, reflecting both global shortages and the costs of PDMPs. Low-and-middle-income (LMIC) countries encouraged to take gradual measures to increase access to vitally needed PDMPs by enabling fractionation of domestic plasma and the documents provides several options to make it a reality.
At European level, the European Union is assessing the current issues of the existing legislation on blood and plasma and discuss with relevant stakeholders how to address the shortcomings of the legislation. IPOPI has been invited to participate in a series of targeted workshops to discuss some of the main topics such as sufficiency of plasma, ethical aspects of donation, etc. IPOPI has also been participating in a series of meetings organised by other stakeholders, such as the PPTA’s online event on how to enhance plasma collection via increased regulatory efficiency (April 21st 2021, online) and the International Society of Blood Transfusion on stepwise access to safe plasma proteins in resource-constrained countries (21-23 September, online).
