Health authorities, including the World Health Organization, endorse an approach called patient blood management (PBM) to preserve and safeguard a patient’s own blood while promoting patient safety and empowerment. The systematic implementation of PBM is critical for improving blood health because it addresses the risks associated with iron deficiency, anemia, blood loss and coagulopathy.
Anemia and iron deficiency are among the most common, yet underdiagnosed and mostly untreated, blood conditions – especially in women, children, the elderly and in those living with chronic diseases. By recognizing these as serious global health issues, the Blood & Beyond initiative directly supports CSL’s mission to advance the widespread adoption of PBM.
Blood & Beyond combines medical expertise, patient advocacy, health economics, hospital management and the pharmaceutical industry to increase the uptake of PBM practices and spread the word about PBM’s benefits. Blood & Beyond engages with policy and health care decisionmakers, governments and regional authorities to support adoption of PBM policies and laws that drive implementation.
Patient blood management seeks to improve surgical and medical patient outcomes by optimally managing and preserving a patient’s own blood. It has three basic aims: to diagnose and appropriately correct anemia and iron deficiency, to minimize blood loss and bleeding and to support the patient while appropriate treatment is initiated instead of reverting to blood transfusion.
Under the Blood & Beyond banner, CSL will advocate for necessary changes through hosting events, running campaigns and publishing scientific materials, all geared towards achieving concrete PBM implementation in hospitals.
“Our co-leadership in the Blood & Beyond initiative underscores our commitment to advancing PBM practices and therefore improving blood health globally. We believe that through collaborative efforts, top-down and bottom-up, we can drive implementation of PBM, leading to improvements in patient outcomes and health care efficiency,” said Anna Mezzacasa, Global Patient Blood Management Lead CSL Vifor and Policy & Medical Practice workstream lead.
In the upcoming months, the team will work to expand Blood & Beyond’s pool of experts. Among others, CSL plans to host an event in the European Parliament to highlight PBM to newly elected members in 2025. CSL also will promote the expected update on the WHO guidance on PBM and the recently adopted EU SoHO (Substances of Human Origin) Regulation, which references PBM. Additional activities include events in selected countries and collaborations with global medical societies.
