one point of criticism if this cost-effectiveness estimate: in high-income countries there is no substantial shortage of blood. In case of acute shortage, blood banks can easily recruit donors. So if you don’t donate and that results in a blood shortage of one unit, another donor is likely to step in. If you donate blood, you simply replace the donation: the other donor who would have donated in your place, will not be recruited. Your donation will not be an extra donation. Or in other words: blood donation has low additivity and blood supply is inelastic. The case for plasma might be different, as there is a global plasma undersupply. A plasma donation will not simply be a replacement of someone else’s donation. But I don’t know how many QALY’s you save by donating plasma.
I have an example for you: high-income country germany:
Germany has frequent blood-shortages, that lead to less planned operations or even no blood for urgent operations- every donor can at least safe life quality or even lifes in that periods of time
In Germany one donation can be stored up to 42 days (or much less) - there is limited recruitment time, if storage is low.
Over 12 % of the germans, that can donate blood, do so—there are just roughly 7 replacement people per donor
many blooddonations are devided in their different parts—blooddonations are also plasmadonations with added material for other usecases
1: But how do you know when there is an acute blood shortage, when it is time for you to donate with high impact? You only know it when a blood bank actively communicates about it in order to increase donations, but then other potential donors will also be informed and become motivated to donate blood. Cfr blood shortage in New York after 9/11, donors were recruited by mass advertisement, and quickly there was an oversupply of blood. It is like on the stock market: if you don’t buy a share, someone else will, and it is difficult to know the good time when to buy or sell.
4: blood donation is not an effective means to collect blood parts such as protein that are in plasma, because the rest of the blood (e.g. the red blood cells) is waste. You can donate plasma more frequently. Plasma has a longer shelf life, can be traded internationally,… That means in general there is a chronic (global and local) undersupply of plasma (and plasma derived products), but no chronic undersupply of blood in high-income countries.
one point of criticism if this cost-effectiveness estimate: in high-income countries there is no substantial shortage of blood. In case of acute shortage, blood banks can easily recruit donors. So if you don’t donate and that results in a blood shortage of one unit, another donor is likely to step in. If you donate blood, you simply replace the donation: the other donor who would have donated in your place, will not be recruited. Your donation will not be an extra donation. Or in other words: blood donation has low additivity and blood supply is inelastic. The case for plasma might be different, as there is a global plasma undersupply. A plasma donation will not simply be a replacement of someone else’s donation. But I don’t know how many QALY’s you save by donating plasma.
I have an example for you: high-income country germany:
Germany has frequent blood-shortages, that lead to less planned operations or even no blood for urgent operations- every donor can at least safe life quality or even lifes in that periods of time
In Germany one donation can be stored up to 42 days (or much less) - there is limited recruitment time, if storage is low.
Over 12 % of the germans, that can donate blood, do so—there are just roughly 7 replacement people per donor
many blooddonations are devided in their different parts—blooddonations are also plasmadonations with added material for other usecases
1: But how do you know when there is an acute blood shortage, when it is time for you to donate with high impact? You only know it when a blood bank actively communicates about it in order to increase donations, but then other potential donors will also be informed and become motivated to donate blood. Cfr blood shortage in New York after 9/11, donors were recruited by mass advertisement, and quickly there was an oversupply of blood. It is like on the stock market: if you don’t buy a share, someone else will, and it is difficult to know the good time when to buy or sell.
4: blood donation is not an effective means to collect blood parts such as protein that are in plasma, because the rest of the blood (e.g. the red blood cells) is waste. You can donate plasma more frequently. Plasma has a longer shelf life, can be traded internationally,… That means in general there is a chronic (global and local) undersupply of plasma (and plasma derived products), but no chronic undersupply of blood in high-income countries.