What are the blood costs for sub-Saharan African countries? Include a comparative analysis on whether Zimbabwe costs are higher or fair with what the region is offering.
There is lack of published data on the costs of blood and blood transfusion in sub-Saharan Africa (Mafirakureva et al., 2016). Experts consulted for this rapid review confirm that the deficiency in the breakdown of components involved in costs hinders fair comparative analysis with different countries.
Although the focus for this rapid review is on costs associated with blood transfusion, an overall understanding of the costs (and the processes driving the costs) for all blood products (such as whole blood, and platelets or red blood cells, RBCs) is included.
A blood transfusion is a common medical treatment around the world. However, in many African countries, patients are often charged a high price or go without. In some countries, this is because people do not donate enough blood to meet the national need (GPJ Africa, 2017).
