Pratap Kumar: Blood Shortages Are a Health Systems Challenge, Not Just a Donor Shortage
Pratap Kumar, Associate Professor of Digital Health Policy at UCL, Founder of Health-E-Net, shared a post on LinkedIn about a recent article he and his colleagues co-authored, published in The Lancet Global Health, adding:
“‘Blood donation centres are often established in urban centres, making it substantially harder for donors from rural areas to donate.’
This is from The Lancet Global Health editorial on our paper published online today on World Blood Donor Day.
Without engaging rural communities we risk disenfranchising large parts of the population from participating in blood donation, and more widely in health systems. Ours is the largest qualitative study of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa synthesising diverse multidisciplinary perspectives on blood availability.
We argue that shortages in blood are not just due to a paucity of donors, but a systems challenge. A health systems approach is therefore essential to overcome shortages in blood and blood products.”
Title: Exploration of the vein to vein blood transfusion system in three Kenyan counties: a qualitative study
Authors: Linda S. Barnes, Jennifer Makin, Jose R. Paiz, Jana Macleod, Cindy Mical Makanga, Tecla Kivuli Chelagat, Alejandro Munoz-Valencia, Ejemai Eboreime, Robert Kamu Kaburu, Abdirahman Musa, Carolyne Njoki, Cavin Otieno Opiyo, Kristina E. Rudd, Mark Yazer, Bopaya Bidanda, Juan Carlos Puyana, Pratap Kumar
Stay updated on all scientific advances with Hemostasis Today.
-
Sep 29, 2026, 19:00Caitlin Raymond: Can Artificial Blood Solve Blood Supply Shortages?
-
Sep 29, 2026, 18:51Chaza Alaji: Dyslipidemia, Thrombosis and the DIC Diagnostic Trap
-
Sep 29, 2026, 17:31Rajnikant Patel: Bridging Ayurvedic Concepts and Modern Toxin-Mediated Disease
-
Sep 29, 2026, 17:13Nicholas Lang։ A Meaningful Case of Immune Thrombocytopenia
-
Sep 29, 2026, 16:55Ayatullah Gamal Wahab: When the CBC Lies
-
Sep 29, 2026, 16:35Jonathan Douxfils: Navigating the VTE Risk Continuum in Reproductive Medicine
-
Sep 29, 2026, 16:35Chaima Rajeh: Types of Anemia and Their Laboratory Features
-
Sep 29, 2026, 16:27Scott Isaacs: How GLP-1 RAs Target Systemic Inflammation to Drive Cardio, Autoimmune, and Gut Health
-
Sep 29, 2026, 16:21Yitshak Kreiss: From Treating Patients to Defining the Standard of Knowledge