October 2018; China: The U.S.-China Health Summit was recently held in Beijing, China, on October 12-14, 2018. Initiated by Yuanli Liu, Director of ‘Harvard China Initiative,’ and Dr. Jing Ma, Professor at Harvard Medical School, the Summit was inaugurated at Harvard University in September 2011 and is held alternately in the U.S. and China. The Summit brings together healthcare leaders from academia, governmental and non-governmental organizations and industry, and is dedicated to the advancement of global health by promoting the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and experiences. This is achieved through high-level strategic dialogues, leadership development programs, and applied research.
Guest speaker at the Summit, Dr. Axel Hofmann, presented the ‘Concept and Value of Patient Blood Management’. Dr. Hofmann is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Anesthesiology, University Clinics Zurich, Switzerland and one of the trustees of the International Foundation for Blood Management.
Patient Blood Management is ‘an evidence-based bundle of care to optimize medical and surgical patient outcomes by clinically managing and preserving a patient’s own blood’. See video ‘What is PBM?’
In his presentation, Dr. Hofmann stated that; “Based on the results of the world’s largest PBM ‘real world’ study with more than 600,000 patients, the broad implementation of PBM in China would improve patient outcomes for millions of patients while saving tens of billions of health care dollars each year. It would also help to reduce the increasing gap between supply and demand of allogeneic blood components due to a shrinking donor pool, China’s recent ban on reciprocal blood donation, the fast- growing demand for clinical services and surgeries due to the country’s hyper-ageing society and improved access to healthcare.” Read full PBM study
During the more than 40-minute panel discussion, many of the experts agreed that Patient Blood Management should become the standard of care in China. According to several officials, efforts are already underway to position China as a global leader in Patient Blood Management.