The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean convened a regional consultation on the availability and safety of blood transfusion during humanitarian emergencies from 15 to 16 May 2016.

The objectives of the consultation were:

• to review the status, successes, challenges and lessons learned in ensuring the availability and safety of blood transfusion during humanitarian emergencies;
• to develop recommendations and an action plan to address the challenges and to strengthen blood transfusion services to respond to the increased demand for blood transfusion during humanitarian emergencies. 

Blood transfusion is an essential component of emergency health care. Almost 75% of countries and more than 76 million people in the Eastern Mediterranean Region are affected by humanitarian emergencies, including almost 16 million refugees or internally displaced people. Some of the most challenged countries in the world, with either humanitarian crisis or complex emergency, are in this Region, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Somalia, Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen.

Summary report on the Regional consultation on the availability and safety of blood transfusion during humanitarian emergencies, Tunis, Tunisia, 15–16 May 2016