Opinion: Every drop counts — the importance of patient blood management

Blood is central to life. It carries necessary oxygen and nutrients to our cells, removes toxic waste, helps fight infections, and regulates core body functions like temperature and blood pressure. Despite being a vital part of the body, blood remains severely overlooked in global health.

Failing to prioritize blood care has staggering consequences. More than 3 billion people worldwide experience impaired blood health, including conditions such as iron deficiency, anemia, blood loss, and bleeding disorders. These conditions span all patient communities — from infants and pregnant women to older adults and people living with chronic diseases. The result is increased morbidity, premature mortality, and rising health care expenditures.

But a new approach to blood care is offering hope: patient blood management, or PBM. This month, the Society for the Advancement of Patient Blood Management, or SABM, recognizes PBM Awareness Week, a time dedicated to educating patients and health care professionals about blood health and the impact of transfusion overuse.

SABM envisions a future where blood is treated by health systems as the vital resource that it is — starting with the prioritization of proper blood management. It is time for patients, clinicians, health systems, and policymakers to address the burden of sub-optimal blood health by ensuring a person’s blood is protected and managed at every stage of care.

The burden of anemia

The scale of blood disease and bleeding disorders is enormous. Anemia alone affects nearly 25% of the world’s population — about 2 billion people — with women of reproductive age, pregnant women, young children, and older adults disproportionately affected. For the 37% of pregnant women who are affected by anemia, it can mean greater risks during childbirth. For children, it can mean impaired growth and cognitive development. And for older adults, it can sharply reduce rates of survival from illness.

Anemia often accompanies and increases the impact of chronic diseases. Those navigating the journey of cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, obesity, or inflammatory conditions are also often confronting the headwinds of anemia — a multiplier of disease burden.

The consequences of anemia are not abstract. They range from daily fatigue to shortness of breath and muscle and joint weakness that erode people’s mobility, ability to work, participation in community life, and enjoyment of everyday activities.

Overburdened health systems with limited capacity are further stressed by the impact of anemia and sub-optimal blood health. Often their response is reactive, relying heavily on blood transfusions, which can be lifesaving in emergencies but risky and costly when used as routine management. When blood and bleeding disorders are managed reactively instead of proactively, the consequences are costly — not just for patients, but also for health systems and societies, adding up to billions of dollars.

Prioritizing blood health

In March 2025, the World Health Organization released the first global guidance on the implementation of patient blood management. The core belief behind PBM is simple:  Each person’s blood is a unique, personal resource, and its preservation and health should be prioritized. The PBM framework recognizes that protecting and managing a patient’s own blood, rather than relying on transfusions, is both medically beneficial and a public health imperative.

PBM calls for proactive screening of anemia, timely access to iron therapy and other treatments, and careful strategies to minimize blood loss and bleeding risk. It redefines blood not as a replaceable fluid, but as a vital resource to be safeguarded at every stage of care.

The benefits of PBM are profound. Patients experience fewer complications, greater strength and cognitive function, and improved quality of life. In fact, WHO estimates that proper implementation of PBM systems would improve outcomes for hundreds of millions of patients while freeing up health care resources for other critical needs. By optimizing blood use and reducing unnecessary transfusions, PBM also delivers vast economic benefits — lowering costs associated with hospital stays, readmissions, and lost productivity.

Building better health systems

Awareness of blood diseases and bleeding disorders remains dangerously low. Anemia is frequently dismissed as routine rather than recognized as a public health priority. Too often, those most vulnerable — women, children, people living with chronic conditions, and people in low- and middle-income countries — lack access to even the most basic screenings or treatment.

This must change. Governments should integrate PBM into national health strategies and support health systems in urgently implementing WHO’s PBM guidance as the standard of care. Policymakers should invest in prevention, community-based screenings, early intervention, and timely access to PBM-based care, expanding equitable access to treatment so that blood health is not a privilege dictated by geography or income. And patient advocates must continue to raise awareness, ensuring that blood health is no longer overlooked in the global fight against noncommunicable diseases.

Blood is a vital, one-of-a-kind resource that deserves to be protected as fiercely as the heart, lungs, or kidneys. By elevating blood health as a public health priority, policymakers have the chance to improve outcomes for millions of people, strengthen health systems, and relieve enormous economic and societal burdens. The data is clear; a policy road map is in place. What is needed now is the will to act.

Learn more at www.gafpa.org.