Improving blood donation and donor care to make safe blood more available in Ghana
Official title: Development and evaluation of community-based approaches and donor care intervention models for improving availability and safety of blood for the management of severe anemia in Ghana
Funded at University of Ghana · NIH-11179170 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project helps Ghana build a safer, more reliable volunteer blood donation system so people with severe anemia and emergency bleeding can get blood when they need it.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Ghana NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Legon, Ghana) |
| Project start | July 1, 2020 |
| Project end | June 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $432,737 |
| NIH project number | 5UH3HL151599-06 |
| Project ID | NIH-11179170 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Healthy adults in Ghana who meet blood-donation eligibility criteria and communities affected by severe anemia or obstetric bleeding are the main groups involved.
✕Less likely to help
People living outside the study regions or countries, and people who need an immediate transfusion now, are unlikely to gain direct benefit from participating in the project.
What this research studies
From my perspective, the team is working with communities and Ghana's blood services to move away from family replacement donations toward regular volunteer donors. They will run community outreach, education, and new donor-care approaches and pilot these models at blood collection sites. The project will track how these changes affect blood supply, donor safety, and shortages for emergencies like obstetric hemorrhage and severe anemia. The goal is to make it easier and safer for people to donate and for patients to receive blood when needed.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could increase the supply of safe, regular blood donations and reduce deaths from severe anemia and emergency bleeding in Ghana.
How similar studies have gone: Other countries that shifted to 100% voluntary blood donation and strengthened donor care have improved blood safety and availability, and WHO endorses this approach, though it is still challenging to implement across many parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Ghana
Legon, Ghana Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Dei-Adomakoh, Yvonne — University of Ghana
- Study coordinator: Dei-Adomakoh, Yvonne
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.