THE LIFEBLOOD OF SOUTH AFRICA’S

MEDICAL SECTOR

South African National Blood Service

In our busy everyday lives, we can often find ourselves guilty of overlooking the little things that are truly important; and make no mistake, as easy as it is to take it for granted, blood is worth its’ weight in gold. A buoyant supply of blood means that patients can undergo surgery, women can receive blood transfusions when going into labour and accident victims or victims of violence can get the emergency treatments that can and do save lives. Blood is the glue that binds together South Africa’s medical and emergency care system and it is the South Africa National Blood Service (SANBS) which acts as the guardian responsible for the collection, screening and distribution of this national treasure. Since its’ inception in 2001 following the merger of several separate blood transfusion services, the South African National Blood Service has seen its operations grow substantially in the last decade and the high-tech facilities that it now utilises and the stringent safety procedures in place to protect both donors and staff are the envy of the world. And being a not-for-profit organisation which is free from shareholders and the private sector, South Africa National Blood Service is able to re-invest any surplus it does make back into the organisation and to continue improving service. “The industry is buoyant and there is a lot of support from everyone now. When we first started in 2001, we had several branches across all of South Africa; and South Africa is a large place. Now we have 30 branches and this doesn’t include the many, many mobile blood banks that we have in shopping centres, holiday resorts and secondary schools.

A world beating, high-tech organisation which provides the blood that fuels the medical industry in SA, SANBS is among the global elite in its’ field. CEO Dr Loyiso Muntsha tells Djamil Benmehidi about the organisations’ success in restoring trust and rise to prominence.

Every year thousands of South Africans, mostly children and teenagers, are diagnosed with blood disorders such as leukaemia, marrow failure and aplasia. There is hope, a diagnosis of this kind is not always life-threatening and there is the chance of the patient undergoing a successful bone marrow stem cell transplant from a healthy bone marrow stem cell donor. The Sunflower Fund, with the help of committed funders, corporates and the general SA public, is increasing this HOPE every year and building a STATE ASSET to help future generations of leukaemia sufferers. With HOPE, leukaemia is no longer the DEATH SENTENCE that it was over 20 years ago.

The Sunflower Fund’s mission is to educate and recruit a viable source of well-informed potential bone marrow stem cell donors who are ethnically diverse, in an effort to save the lives of those

needing a transplant when suffering from life-threatening blood disorders. It strives to maintain the associated donor records of the South African Bone Marrow Registry.

The Sunflower Fund was formed in 1999 in support of the South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) and was inspired by 17 year old Chris Corlett’s heroic struggle against leukaemia. It was formed by CEO Tina Botha (Chris Corlett’s Mother) and other parents whose children had contracted leukaemia, and in some cases had lost their battle against it.

Since its inception, The Sunflower Fund has been building the SABMR by educating and recruiting bone marrow stem cell donors so that children and young adults diagnosed with leukaemia and other life-threatening blood disorders can find their life-saving donor match, in order to undergo a bone marrow stem cell transplant.

Website: www.sunflowerfund.org.zaToll-free number if dialling from South Africa 0800 12 10 82

If dialling internationally call: 0027 21 7010661

Share a little, save a lifeBecome a bone marrow stem cell donor today

South African National Blood Service

The government give us a lot of backing and run campaigns encouraging people to visit our mobile blood drives to give blood. We now get 20% more blood compared to 2001” said Dr Loyiso Mpuntsha, CEO of South Africa National Blood Service. And she insists that the movement of so much blood from across South Africa is not the logistical nightmare that one would presume.“Transporting so much blood continuously to our donation testing facilities is of course a challenge and for part of this we have our own vehicles and staff who are fast and efficient, whilst using courier companies who we have worked in partnership with for a long time to cover the bulk of the transport, especially from the outlying areas.”However the organisations’ growth and success has not been an entirely streamlined process and South African National Blood Service has had to overcome challenges in the last 10 years to get to where it is today.The first key issue that South Africa National Blood Service has had to address is the small matter of supply. South Africa has a total population of 49 million inhabitants, 442,000 of which are regular blood donors and though this seems like quite an insignificant figure considering the country’s size, Dr Mpuntsha told us: “We are of course looking to improve this number and attract more regular donors but its’ not a bad statistic. The World Health Organisation estimates that only around 1% of the population give blood in most countries and we are not far from that.

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Sunflower Fund Ambassador and media personality Benito Vergatine becoming a donor

South African National Blood Service

• It is through development, growth and transformation that the South African Bone Marrow Registry has expanded from merely 800 donors in 1999 to over 64 500 dedicated donors to date. It is through strategic development and continuous improvement that The Sunflower Fund continues to grow the Registry.

• Even so, building and expanding is an everyday challenge. There is no sell by date as it is a living registry. The Sunflower Fund strives to continue building this state asset in order to protect and nurture our future generation as they may need life-saving donors.

• Ethnic origin (Heritage) is important when matching donors and patients. The “markers” that are tested when searching for a match are genetically inherited and often unique to a particular race. It is through education that we aim to increase the number of Black donors on the Registry to help the many children and young adults in our state hospitals searching for donor matches. This involves us selectively targeting

the recruitment of Black donors in all targeted recruitment campaigns and donor drives.

• The Sunflower Fund is aiming to reach out to more youth programmes to specifically increase the recruitment of young black donors. We are attempting to collaborate with more youth clubs within communities to increase awareness about the crucial need for donors. Potential donors have to be between the ages of 18 and 45 which is why we strive to recruit donors as soon as they turn 18 so that they can remain on the registry for a lengthy time with the hope that someday they too can give back to society by saving someone’s life.

• Education and awareness is created in communities through talks at schools, churches and community centres. It is vital that all South Africans are educated about becoming a donor and the urgent need for donors of all ethnic backgrounds. Without these donors we are losing patients. Together, we can make a difference in South Africa and the rest of the World and save more lives.

WHY YOU SHOULD GET INVOLVED

THANK YOU FOR BEING PREPARED TO“SHARE A LITTLE, TO SAVE A LIFE!”

Website: www.sunflowerfund.org.za

Toll-free number if dialling from South Africa 0800 12 10 82

If dialling internationally call: 0027 21 7010661

South African National Blood Service

In fact the supply issue we have is that like in most other countries we suffer from seasonal shortages of blood. We find that over the Easter period we can struggle because 17% of our blood donations come from secondary schools and tertiary institutions so when they close for the holiday break, we do experience shortfalls. Another period within which we struggle is the December and New Year holiday period where many people are away and schools and businesses are closed in the run up to Christmas.”Therefore, to avoid the crisis that occurred in late 2011 where a shortage of blood had a knock-on effect for the entire medical industry, South Africa National Blood Service has announced a big push to encourage South Africans to give blood over the Christmas period, beginning with a much publicised ‘patriotic blood appeal’ which begins on the 25th November.The second key issue that South Africa National Blood Service has had to tackle is winning the trust of a sceptical South African public who were very wary of the blood donation industry, for reasons ranging from the fallout of the much publicised race-rating scandal in 2004 to concerns over the safety of giving blood in a country which has one of the highest global HIV and hepatitis B infection rates. After a revelation in 2004 by a black nurse who gave blood that the national blood bank used sexual practice, healthiness of lifestyle but also skin colour to assess the safety of blood

donors and as a result was discarding bags of blood donated by black people, there was a terrible scandal at such racial discrimination and the industry lost many donors.The two blood screening facilities in the SANBS laboratories in Johannesburg and Durban are rivalled by few others in the world and it is possible to screen every bag of donated blood for infection using state of the art testing technology quite an achievement when you consider that in 2011 alone, the organisation received 792 000 blood donations. This does come at a premium however and to operate such high-end technology continuously costs SANBS approximately R450, 000 per day, a small price to pay according to Dr Mpuntsha. She told us:“We have a high prevalence of HIV and hepatitis in some areas where we take blood. It is a very expensive process but the decision to invest in such testing was taken to build trust.” “It has been necessary to spend time and money re-building trust and investing in highly stringent blood screening equipment and though it has pushed up the prices of blood considerably, the government has had to accept this andeveryone agreed it was necessary and we are now reaping the rewards.”It goes without saying that in such a health and safety conscious industry, South Africa National Blood Services is highly regulated and its’ 2,400 staff receive on-going and

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South African National Blood Service

South African National Blood Service

ILEX - SANBS Partnership

In 2005 Ilex was awarded the nucleic acid blood screening tender by SANBS. Through a partnership between the 2 organizations it has been shown that innovative technologies can be successfully implemented in our continent. Since 2005 there has not been a single case of HIV transmission due to a blood transfusion. This has been lauded as a great success globally. This has shown us that it is only through sustainable partnerships that we can contribute positively to healthcare for all South Africans.

Dr Loyiso Mpuntsha, Chief Executive Officer, South African National Blood Service (SANBS), 16 September 2009 stated the following “SANBS has committed to absolute quality service and no compromise for blood safety. We have proved that the partnership with Novartis Diagnostics (supplier of TIGRIS for blood screening) and ILEX, enabled SANBS to continue on this path with greater confidence that we can address blood safety challenges for the foreseeable future.”

Aphile Ndugane

South African National Blood Service

meticulous training. All nurses and technicians employed by the organisation are continuously trained and registered with a statutory council who ensure that necessary high standards are maintained. Due to the risk of staff coming into contact with individuals infected with hepatitis B or HIV, employees are immunised for hepatitis B and only the highest quality protective equipment such as needles with protective sheaths and specialist medical gloves for example are permitted. Any concerns that a member of staff may have contracted HIV from a donor will see them receive prophylactic treatment immediately; in other words employee safety “is of paramount importance” according to Dr Mpuntsha.So what next for South Africa National Blood Service in 2013? A year of consolidation rather than further expansion has been forecast which will see the organisation further develop its internal infrastructure, and safety measures, in particular via investments in advanced technology which will cut the risk of bacterial contamination of platelets products, an area where there is still risk. Dr Mpuntsha feels the future is bright for South Africa National Blood Service and is positive that the best is yet to come.“The infrastructure and systems developed thus far make it easy for us to have a secure future in delivering blood to the health & medical system in our country. I feel that the industry is going to continue growing from strength to strength and that our already excellent service can only get better.”

We are grateful for the successful collaboration with the South African National Blood Bank Service. Our worktogether ensures the highest standard of blood safety.

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South African National Blood Servicewww.sanbs.org.za+27 11 761 9000

Written by Djamil Benmehidi

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