World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) supports haemovigilance at a global level, particularly in developing countries. The recent data from the WHO Global Database on Blood Safety showed that the number of countries which have a national haemovigilance system increased from 42 in 2004–05 to 57 in 2011.[59]
Guidance on national haemovigilance system
The WHO is drafting guidance on developing a national haemovigilance system based on output from the WHO Global Consultation on Haemovigilance 2012 and input from the IHN, ISBT and other organisations. The guidance will cover the following key elements of a national haemovigilance system:
- leadership and governance
- organisation and coordination of a haemovigilance system
- haemovigilance in the donation and provision of blood and blood products
- haemovigilance in clinical transfusion.
The guidance will include a check list to facilitate the implementation of these elements.
NOTIFY project
WHO, in collaboration with the Italian National Transplant Centre, created the NOTIFY project in 2010. The intent of the NOTIFY Library is to provide a comprehensive reference of types of serious adverse events and reactions and their underlying root causes related to medical products of human origin including organs, tissues and cells. The project has recently been extended to include adverse events related to blood and blood products.
The project also supports the development of taxonomy and case definitions. The NOTIFY library had created a taxonomy based on the European Union definitions of serious adverse reactions. The database of vigilance information collected by the project will be made publicly available on the WHO/CNT Global NOTIFY Library web site.[60]