Exploring the Intersections of Blood Collection Systems and Public Health

The World Health Organization defines public health as all organized efforts to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong the life of the population. Blood Collection Agencies (BCAs) play a vital role in healthcare systems by providing blood and blood products to recipients. At the same time, they are involved in public health efforts, for instance through support of public health surveillance activities and health checks for donors. There has been some scholarship exploring the intersections between public health and BCAs, with earlier work examining the role of BCAs as a public good for society and the population, and more recent work considering the role of BCAs in public health initiatives including serosurveillance, donor health and equity, public trust, and emergency preparedness. However, these articles are sparse and inconsistent and tend to focus on using data and samples from donors for various initiatives but do not examine the overall purpose and value of collaborations between public health and BCAs. There is not yet a cohesive body of scholarship exploring this intersection, and the connection is becoming more relevant as world events draw these topics together, for instance the COVID-19 pandemic, which presented an opportunity for blood services to track seroprevalence, and the ongoing monitoring of vector-borne illness linked to climate change.The aim of this Research Topic is to bring together interdisciplinary approaches that examine current and potential intersections between BCAs and public health. In doing so, this Research Topic can be used as a resource by practitioners and researchers in BCAs and in public health. The contemporary landscape offers many interesting and under-researched ways in which BCAs and public health intersect and interact. For example, BCAs in many jurisdictions do not have the mandate to offer healthcare services to donors, and yet many provide — or are considering providing — donor health information with the recommendation that donors follow up with their healthcare provider. What are the tensions that arise when BCAs provide donors with health information? By and large, donors are relatively healthy. Public health initiatives that contribute to the health of the population can be viewed as supporting the pool of eligible donors (e.g., initiatives that support healthy iron levels in the public, hemochromatosis screening); is there a stronger role public health can play to support BCAs, and in which BCAs can contribute to public health? BCAs collect large amounts of donor data, resulting in a unique repository of data on healthy populations. How might public health be supported by collaborating with BCAs beyond serosurveillance?We seek empirical, methodological, or theoretical papers focused on intersections between BCAs and public health. We welcome contributions from disciplines including the social sciences, humanities, public policy, and ethics/ELSI. Review articles, commentaries, and policy papers will be considered if they demonstrate a clear focus on the topic outlined.Manuscripts may examine the following themes:• How offering donor health screening might be shifting the role of BCAs• As healthcare systems are strained, how BCAs are expanding their roles in public health, and what tensions result• The opportunities and limits of BCAs sharing data with public health authorities, including privacy concerns, ethics, and donor consent• How donor screening might alert public health authorities to emerging health priorities (e.g., chronic low hemoglobin/iron-deficient anemia)• The challenges of collaborative efforts between BCAs and public health authorities on serosurveillance amid pressures related to climate change, migration, and changing demographics• How the social determinants of health (SDOH) influence and shape who is able to donate blood, and how BCAs can apply an SDOH approach to diversify their donor base• How climate change may be affecting the emergence of pathogens and tickborne illnesses, and what other impacts this could have on blood collection and public health Topic editors: Jennie Haw, Kelly Holloway, Rachel Thorpe Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86787/exploring-the-intersections-of-blood-collection-systems-and-public-health