ICCBBA Admitted into Official Relations with the World Health Organization
Redlands, CA (PRWEB) February 13, 2014 -- ICCBBA (International Council for Commonality in Blood Bank Automation) is an international non-governmental, non-profit, organization based in Redlands, California. The mission of ICCBBA is to improve patient safety through standardization of the manner in which critical information is carried on labels of Medical Products of Human Origin (MPHO). MPHO comprise all human derived donated material used for human application and include blood, organs, bone marrow, cord blood, corneas, tissues, reproductive cells and milk.
ISBT 128 is the global standard for the terminology, identification, coding and labeling of MPHO and is used in more than 70 countries across six continents and disparate health care systems. It is widely endorsed by the professional community. The standard has been designed to ensure the highest levels of accuracy, safety, and efficiency for the benefit of donors and patients worldwide. ISBT 128 provides international consistency to support the transfer, traceability and transfusion/transplantation of blood, cells, tissues and organs.
Recognizing that the safety of MPHO is enhanced by effective systems of traceability, transparency, vigilance and surveillance, the World Health Organization has established an organization-wide initiative for MPHO. This initiative identifies three strategies for global governance of MPHO one of which is the “global use of ISBT 128 for all MPHO to ensure unique identification, optimal traceability and interoperability between countries, and across all MPHO, for both routine and emergency use”.
WHO and ICCBBA have had a joint work program since 2011 and the status of NGO in official relations with WHO was conferred on ICCBBA at the WHO Executive Board Meeting on 25 Jan 2014. ICCBBA Executive Director Paul Ashford highlights the importance of this step: “We are deeply grateful to WHO for accepting ICCBBA into official relations. I have no doubt that this action will raise awareness of the importance of effective traceability for MPHO and will accelerate the rate of global standardization.”
Dr Luc Noël, Special Advisor, Initiative for Medical Products of Human Origin, WHO stated: “The Public must be confident that donation for MPHO receives the best attention and care. ICCBBA contributes to the global good by facilitating safety, reliability and traceability with the international standard ISBT 128.”
Erwin Cabana, ICCBBA, http://www.iccbba.org, +1 (909) 793-6516, [email protected]
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