| The purpose of this project is to build sustainable capacity for research in blood transfusion services in Africa. There is a critical lack of individuals with research skills in Africa’s transfusion services; without these skills the service cannot do the research needed to improve the safety and supply of blood for their people. Blood transfusions in Africa are given predominantly for emergencies like bleeding during childbirth or severe anaemia due to malaria. In contracts, in wealthy countries demand for blood is predictable, transfusion services have centralised blood collection centres and effective distribution networks to hospitals where the blood is used. In Africa, the unpredictable blood use, severe blood shortages and difficulties in reaching remote hospitals means that research from wealthy countries may not apply to transfusion services in Africa. Therefore if African countries are to improve their blood transfusion services they need to generate their own evidence.
Africa’s transfusion professionals have a wealth of technical expertise but almost no research experience. Several European institutions have expertise in building research capacity among health professionals in Africa. This project will coordinate EU and African collaborations to transfer research skills to the African partners. EU partners will benefit by enhancing their own blood transfusion research skills. To do this we will support three research training schemes (PhD, under/post graduates, in-service) in each of two African partner transfusion services. All partners will contribute to disseminating information about the project to both academic and non-academic audiences, promoting the uptake of research into policy and practice and in seeking long-term support for building transfusion research capacity in Africa. The AfSBT will coordinate the African partners’ activities and LSTM will have overall responsibility for the project. |
