Haemovigilance: recent achievements and developments in the near future

Abstract

Since the introduction of haemovigilance in the 1990s, the majority of the European countries has established a national haemovigilance system and communication between these systems was organized through the European Haemovigilance Network (EHN). The concept of haemovigilance has steadily expanded and the number of haemovigilance systems outside Europe is increasing. Several of these systems have also joined the EHN. Furthermore, initiated by the World Health Organization, a Global Steering Committee for Haemovigilance has been installed to promote haemovigilance particularly in developing countries. Both these haemovigilance systems and the network have documented the safety of blood transfusion and indicated where the main problems and opportunities for improvement are. Furthermore, they have suggested measures for improvement of the safety and, last but not least, documented the effect of these measures. Therefore, they have contributed considerably to the improvement of the quality and safety of the blood transfusion chain. In the near future, the EHN will become an official International Haemovigilance Network. Ongoing developments concerning the scope of vigilance include the vigilance of optimal use of blood products and safety of cells and tissues of human origin (biovigilance).