Assessing the pattern of blood supply and demand for the Copperbelt province of Zambia.

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to assess the pattern of whole blood supply and demand for the Copperbelt province of Zambia. The Zambian National Blood Transfusion Services (ZNBTS) regional office was selected as the institution of study, being the only institution mandated by law to collect and supply blood transfusion products on the copperbelt. Descriptive quantitative research design was employed. The sample size included four senior ZNBTS employees working at the regional office in Kitwe. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using a statistical package called SPSS. Results: The study findings reviewed that the highest quantity of whole blood was supplied in 2015 and further review of the data indicated that the highest and lowest quantities of whole blood were supplied in the second and third quarters of 2015. The average blood supply rate was also highest in 2015 at 7.8. The standard deviation for the mean quantity of whole blood supplied in 2015 was 4,587 with SD of 750 while the median quantity of whole blood supplied was 4,388 and IQR of 3,373 to 5,040. The mean quantity of blood supplied were highest in 2015 (4,587) and lowest in 2013 (4,117). The means of whole blood collected in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 were computed and compared using ANOVA F-Test and revealed that they were not statistically different (P-Value 0.724). Analysis of whole blood supply and demand for the period 2013-2014 revealed the deficit of blood supply of approximately one–quarter and ranged from 22.3% to 29.6%. There was no statistically significant trends in the deficit in whole blood supply (P-Trend = 0.785). Further, the Copperbelt Province appear to have recorded a drop in the blood wastage in 2015 (16.3%), the year when the highest quantities of blood were collected, the trend in the percentage of blood wasted was not statistically significant (P-Trend = 0.334). The overall wastage of blood due to blood transfusion transmissible infections (HBV, HCV, HIV and Syphilis) under the study period was 19.1%. During the 2013-2016 period more than three-quarters of the blood suppliers (donors) were in the 18-24 years age group and 24-44 years age group. The percentage of females donating blood ranged from 31.6% in 2013 to 37.4% in 2015. Recommendations: Ministry of Health should encourage both widespread hospital‐based systems and centralized blood donation services using non-remunerated voluntary repeat blood unit suppliers. This researcher shall conduct a follow up study on estimation of the cost of the unit of whole blood or its components for Zambia and lobby ministry of health policy makers for inclusion of blood banking data into the hospital based health information system.