Blockchain Solutions for Blood Donation and Delivery Systems
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Chapter 1: Introduction to Blood Donation Challenges
Blood plays a vital role in human health, yet the complex regulatory landscape has hindered the development of technological solutions to enhance its distribution and accessibility. A proposed blockchain framework by IEEE experts aims to address these challenges and promote global blood donations.
According to WHO findings, a significant 60% of blood donations originate from Low-to-Middle-Income Countries, with 54% of transfusions administered to children under five. Notably, over fifty nations rely on family or paid donors for more than half of their blood supply. Additionally, women contribute to 33% of global blood donations. While 55% of hospitals have adverse transfusion reporting systems, only 49% of countries possess haemovigilance frameworks, predominantly in Europe.
Section 1.1: Impact of Technology on Healthcare
Advancements in technology have revolutionized healthcare delivery, introducing machines for precise body scanning and communication protocols for efficient patient data management. In many developed countries, healthcare institutions have transitioned to electronic health records, facilitating document resilience and improving inter-institutional sharing through robust protocols.
As a technology renowned for its transparency and resilience, blockchain has garnered interest from both academia and industry. It supports the next stage of health informatics evolution. Some applications of hyper ledgers have empowered pharmaceutical companies to enable users to verify the origin of prescribed medications, mitigating the risk of counterfeit drugs. Startups like MedRec and MedChain have digitized medical records using blockchain, focusing more on general consultations than on specific processes.
Subsection 1.1.1: The Challenge of Information Sharing
Despite numerous proposals to enhance blood donation systems, storage, and delivery, a scalable solution remains elusive. Implementing a blockchain-based framework for blood banks could significantly reduce disease transmission risks and improve delivery quality, ultimately lowering treatment costs in the long run.
Section 1.2: Global Blood Donation Disparities
Approximately 60% of the 110 million blood donations collected globally come from developed nations, which account for only 16% of the world's population. In these regions, most transfusions undergo screening for infectious diseases and are primarily administered to individuals over 60 years of age. This leads to an alarming statistic: 84% of the global population relies on just 40% of blood donations, primarily benefitting children under five. Conversely, in Low-to-Middle-Income Countries, around 20% of blood is untested for contagious diseases, raising safety concerns.
Fortunately, many countries have established blood policies, but vigilance and reporting systems for transfusions are often lacking. Countries that efficiently manage blood supplies tend to collect more donations, thus minimizing disease transmission risks, as demonstrated in WHO's data.
Chapter 2: The Role of Blockchain in Addressing Inequity
To tackle these inequalities, developing global blockchain-based systems, as illustrated in the proposed framework, is crucial. Tailoring the front-end of these solutions to accommodate local policies and cultural contexts is necessary to foster a diverse donor pool. By leveraging blockchain technology, resource-constrained countries can effectively reduce the incidence of transfusion-related diseases, thereby maintaining program credibility and promoting increased donations in line with global population growth.
The video titled "Blockchain Blood Bank Management System Project - YouTube" provides insights into how blockchain can transform blood donation management.