E- Newsletter International Affairs Department Office Tel: (+9821) 88601546 Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization Office Fax: (+9821) 88601545 ibto E-mail: [email protected] www.ibto.ir

August 2016, Volume:3

Special Points: Centralization of blood centers with the assistance of IBTO Charity Foundation Centralization of Tehran Blood Center by IBTO One of the main challenges of blood services in developing countries is relying on governmen- Charity Foundation tal funding as a sole financial contributor. Additionally, blood centers in developing countries suffer from low number of blood collection in each center which results in increasing the oper- ational costs and inefficient use of funding.

To address these challenges, IBTO has decided to centralize its blood centers to a more effi- cient and coordinated service. Coincided with the celebration of World Blood Donor Day, IBTO Charity Foundation was established in 2015 to assist IBTO in advancing its goals. IBTO Charity Foundation consists of members from private and public institutions such as munici- pality , private banks as well as individuals with multi-disciplinary backgrounds in blood trans- Germany, to build fusion, media, sport, business and health. first blood plasma frac- tionation center

“IBTO one of the best WHOCCs in the region”: WHO representative in Iran In 2016, the centralization project was initiated in Tehran and it was planned to reduce the number of blood collection centers from 17 to 5. With the effort of IBTO Charity Foundation, Municipality of Tehran has agreed to donate five lands to IBTO in different parts of Tehran worth about 37,000,000 US$. Also, The Bank of Industry and Mine accepted to bear the finan- cial costs of constructing those blood centers.

The centers will meet the high standards based on the guidelines of Good Manufacturing Prac- tices (GMP). The centers will be equipped with Pro League cutting-edge facilities and will have enough started with the slogan of “Give Blood, Share spaces for parking, waiting and refreshing Life” rooms which will make blood donation more convenient for blood donors.

"Blood donation is the inevitable part of cultural and Locations of planned blood centers in Tehran social issues. I hope, with the establishment of IBTO Charity Foundation, we witness the in- crease of social participation in other parts of blood donation." Said Dr. Ali Akbar Pourfathol- lah, IBTO Managing Director.

E- Newsletter International Affairs Department Office Tel: (+9821) 88601546 Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization Office Fax: (+9821) 88601545 ibto E-mail: [email protected] www.ibto.ir August 2016, Volume:3

“IBTO one of the best WHOCCs in the region”: WHO representative in Iran

On 28th of July 2016, a team from World Health Organization (WHO) headed by Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO Assistant Director General for Health Systems and Innovation visited Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO). In a meeting held between IBTO deputies, head of WHOCC in research and training on blood safety and WHO’s visiting team, Dr. Sameen Sidiqqui (WHO Representative in Iran) said “IBTO is one of the best WHOCCs not only in Iran but also in the region and has enough capabilities to serve countries located in other regions”. During the meeting, Dr. Sedigheh Amini (IBTO Dep- uty for Quality Control and Quality Assurance) briefed participants on the status of blood transfusion system in Iran. The session was followed by a short presentation of Dr. Mahtab Maghsudlu (The Head of WHO Collaborating Center of Research & Training IBTO has on Blood Safety) on the activities of WHOCC and outlines of international relations IBTO. “IBTO has fulfilled all of fulfilled all of its the commitments and performed all its proposed activities of WHO Collaborating Center in due course. “ she Said. Holding two regional work- commitments shops and one international congress as well as and performed providing technical support to the countries in the region are some main activities of WHOCC. She all proposed added. activities of Congratulating IBTO for its international activities and capabilities, Dr. Sidiqui addressed one of the challenges WHO which is lack of networking between WHOCCs working Collaborating in the same fields and asked WHO assistant director to facilitate the linkage of IBTO with WHO head- quarters and other WHOCCs. Center in due Finally, the WHO’s team visited IBTO Quality Control and Immunohematology Reference laboratories course. as well as cord blood bank. While visiting IBTO laboratories, Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny expressed her satisfaction with the level of the quality of services and equipment.

Germany, Iran to build first blood plasma fractionation center The first German Biotest, a global company that supplies plasma pro- plasma tein products and biotherapeutic drugs, plans to establish the first blood plasma fractionation plant of the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean in Iran jointly with an Iranian firm. The fractionation deal is going to be signed by the two sides in Tehran in coming days. center in the Nasser Riyahi, Head of Iran's Drug Importing Union said in case the refinery is launched, Iran Middle East would turn out to be a hub in the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean in this field. He noted will be built that the German firm is one of ’s leading companies in plasma drugs.

in Iran. The refinery would be co-financed by an Iranian company and German biotest, he said, adding that the deal worth $200 million. Riyahi said that Iran is now importing blood plasma drugs and pays 150-160 million euros annually to import the drugs. E- Newsletter International Affairs Department International Affairs Department

Office Tel: (+9821) 88601546 Office Tel: (+9821) 88601546 Office Fax: (+9821) 88601545 Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization Office Fax: (+9821) 88601545 E-mail: [email protected] www.ibto.ir E-mail: [email protected] www.ibto.ir ibto August 2016, Volume:3

The support of IBTO to home-made devices leads to the

improvement and development of local industry

During the visit of authorities of Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO) to Danesh IBTO Pajoohesh Fajr, an Iranian company active in manufacturing appliances in the field of laborato- Managing ry, pharmacy and biotechnology, Dr. Ali Akbar Pourfathollah, IBTO Managing Director stated Director: that the worn-out foreign devices will be replaced by the new home-made ones.

“The worn- In his visit, Dr. Pourfathollah unveiled the

out foreign blood transfusion related devices that

devices will their prototyping and semi-industrial pro- duction have been completed and are be replaced ready to be produced at industrial level. by the new

home-made One of their new products are the High Capacity Lab Freezer -40°C capable to be ones.” used during civil crisis. Platelet Agitators as well as Double Door Laboratory Refrigerator with two refrigeration cycles were among other devices that their semi-industrial production has completed successfully and are ready to mass production. Also, the company has achieved the knowledge of production of -164°C Freezers which its first production has started.

In line with Iran's sixth development plan in which the production and use of home-made prod- ucts are encouraged, IBTO will gradually take steps to replace its foreign-made equipment and devices with the similar home-made ones in order to support local industry.

IBTO launches three new projects in Kermanshah: blood products irradiation center, stem cell donor registry and mobile blood center

Three new projects including blood products irradiation center, stem cell donor registry and mobile blood centers were launched during the visit of Dr. Pourfathollah to Kermanshah Blood Transfusion Center. Kermanshah province is located in the western part of Iran and extends across the international border with with almost 2 million populations. Kermanshah is one of sixth regional educational centers of Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization and approximately 55,000 blood units are collect- ed annually in this province. Establishing the irradiation center will improve the quality of blood prod- ucts and prevents some fatal complications of blood transfusion. The mo- bile centers that are equipped with all necessary facilities for blood collec- tion, screening and storage will improve the access to blood centers in case of emergencies. IBTO as a WHO Three chapters of “A

Collaborating Center Textbook on Laboratory and contributed to the Clinical Transfusion drafting of EMR blood Medicine” authored by IBTO safety report experts

Pursuant to the agreement signed be- tween Iranian Blood Transfusion Organi- zation (IBTO) and Asian Association of Transfusion Medicine (AATM) in 2014, Iranian experts have authored three chap- ters of “A Textbook on Laboratory and Clinical Transfusion Medicine”.

Following to the visit of Dr. Yetmgeta Abdella, EMRO ( East- ern Mediterranran Regional Of- started with the fice) Medical Officer for Blood slogan of “Give Blood, Share Life” and Transfusion Safety to IBTO , both parties agreed on a action plan to provide an annual report on the status of blood safety in the region based on Global Database on Blood Safety (GDBS) ques- tionnaire. In March 2016, a team from IBTO was assigned to analyze, validate and draft the report based on the raw data sent by EMRO. The complete draft was sent to EMRO after some revision by both parties. The final report which will be published in next few months gives a general view on the safety and availability of blood and blood components in In order to promote the culture of blood donation and commemorate the Nation- EMR in 2013. al Blood Donation Day, 2016-2017 professional football league known as In order to enrich the prepared “Persian Gulf Pro League of Football” started with the theme of “Give Blood, report, IBTO is now also perform- Share Life”. ing a literature review on the past This year, The Iranian Pro League Organization took a new initiative by naming one decade manuscripts published the weeks of the league to a slogan related to social, health and moral affairs. by EMR member states. The re- The initiative aims to raise the awareness of youth and football fans on social sults will be added to the initial deeds. draft. As the first week of the league coincides with the National Blood Donation Day which is on 30th of July, the first theme was assigned to blood donation. Also, The report has also been accepted during the week some football players and coaches who supported Iranian for Poster Presentation at the 2016 Blood Transfusion Organization and encouraged others to donate blood, were AABB Annual Meeting . appreciated. Persian Gulf Pro League is ranked by the Asian Football Confederation as the 2nd best league in Asia and the best league in Western Asia.