OpportunityTitle: Increasing the Supply of Safe Blood for Transfusions in the United Republic of Tanzania and Zanzibar through Blood Collection, Donor Mobilization, and Technical Assistance under the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: Tanzania suffers from an acute shortage of blood donors, and the current number of donations is estimated to be only about 20% of the World Health Organization&#146;s (WHO) estimated minimum requirements for the country.  There are only three organizations with the capacity and infrastructure to collect blood for transfusions in Tanzania: The National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS), the Tanzanian People&#146;s Defense Force (TPDF), and the Tanzania Red Cross Society (TRCS). The NBTS is a Tanzanian government agency established with CDC funds through the support of Funding Opportunity Announcement 04077 in 2004.  Since that time, CDC has supported NBTS and secured them technical assistance to prepare the agency to meet the nation&#146;s blood supply needs.  CDC currently provides 80% of the budget for this Tanzanian government agency through flat funding with the remaining 20% supplied by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. The Tanzanian People&#146;s Defense Force is the national military whose narrow blood collection efforts are funded through a sub-grant from NBTS. TPDF collections are limited solely to donor recruitment among the small population of their own service members.  Therefore the only eligible organization who can supplement and coordinate technical assistance for the blood collection efforts of NBTS using existing infrastructure is the Tanzania Red Cross Society.     In March 2010, as part of their HHS/CDC funded cooperative agreement, NBTS established a five year plan including national blood collection targets. Despite considerable efforts on the part of NBTS, they have missed their blood collection milestones to date. Tanzania&#146;s national safe blood unit needs are too heavy a burden for NBTS to achieve with its current resources and organizational capacity.  NBTS requires supplementary collection efforts and technical assistance to catch up to their five year plan collection goals by 2015. Because NBTS is already two years into their plan, urgent supplementary efforts leveraging existing blood collection infrastructure are necessary.  As described above, TRCS is the only non-governmental organization possessing this existing blood collection infrastructure.
Description: &#147;Increasing the Supply of Safe Blood for Transfusions in the United Republic of Tanzania and Zanzibar through Blood Collection, Donor Mobilization, and Technical Assistance under the President&#146;s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)&#148;
GrantorContactEmailDescription: pgotim@cdc.gov
GrantorContactText: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention   (CDC) &lt;br/&gt;Procurement and Grant Office   (PGO) &lt;br/&gt;E-mail: pgotim@cdc.gov &lt;br/&gt;Phone: 770-488-2700 &lt;br/&gt;