Abstract

The developing world consists of Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) and is home to around 84% of the global population. According to the WHO Global Status Report on Blood Safety and Availability 2021 compared to the similar report of 2016 there are still the same number of serious challenges. The commitment of a majority of these countries to the recommendations of the World Health Assembly resolutions WHA 63.12 has been low and therefore the expected progress slow. WHO reacted to the recommendation with an Action Framework to advance universal access to safe, effective and quality-assured blood products 2020-2023, but received from various LMiCs the notice of problems and barriers with the implementation of the 6 strategic objectives of the Action Framework. The decision was taken to create a guidance to identify the barriers in blood services using a blood self-assessment (BSS) tool created with the support of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). While composing the Guidance and BSS tool an unexpected political barrier was launched by a number of advanced countries creating a foreign aid cut, both financial and human expertise needed to guide and advice on the elements (strategic objectives) of development as documented and recommended in the WHO Action Framework 2020-2023.