Health Systems Strengthening Accelerator (HSSA) – Cross-Country Learning for Safe Blood Systems

Timeline: September 2023 – June 2024 | Status: Completed

Liberia, Malawi, and Rwanda

Project Overview

Safe and reliable blood services are essential to effective healthcare systems. From managing obstetric emergencies and severe childhood anaemia to supporting surgery, trauma care, and specialised treatments, access to safe blood can mean the difference between life and death.

Recognising the importance of strong national blood systems, the Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation (HSDF), through the Health Systems Strengthening Accelerator (HSSA) and in partnership with USAID and Results for Development (R4D), implemented the Cross-Country Learning for Safe Blood Systems initiative between 2023 and 2024.

The project brought together stakeholders from Liberia, Malawi, and Rwanda to facilitate peer learning, knowledge exchange, and collaboration around the design, management, and sustainability of blood service systems. By creating opportunities for countries to learn from one another's experiences, the initiative aimed to accelerate improvements in blood availability, quality, safety, and system performance.

Rather than promoting a one-size-fits-all solution, the project focused on helping countries identify practical lessons and adapt successful approaches to their own health system contexts.

Many countries face challenges in ensuring a consistent supply of safe blood. Common issues include inadequate donor mobilisation systems, limited infrastructure, workforce constraints, fragmented coordination, and financing challenges that affect the availability and sustainability of blood services.

While countries often face similar challenges, opportunities for structured learning and exchange are limited. Valuable lessons developed in one context may not be widely shared, reducing opportunities for adaptation and scale.

Strengthening safe blood systems therefore requires not only technical solutions but also mechanisms that enable countries to learn from one another and accelerate the adoption of effective practices.

HSDF supported the design and facilitation of a cross-country learning platform focused on strengthening blood systems. The project focused on:

Facilitating peer learning and knowledge exchange among participating countries.
Identifying and documenting effective practices in blood system management.
Supporting dialogue among policymakers, technical experts, and health system leaders.
Promoting collaborative problem-solving around common blood system challenges.
Strengthening capacity for evidence-informed decision-making.
Encouraging adaptation of successful approaches across different country contexts.

The initiative emphasised mutual learning, recognising that countries can often accelerate progress by drawing on the experiences and innovations of their peers.

The project demonstrated the value of cross-country collaboration as a tool for health systems strengthening. By connecting leaders and practitioners across multiple countries, the initiative created opportunities to exchange ideas, explore solutions, and strengthen institutional capacity in ways that would not have been possible through isolated efforts.

Through shared learning and collaboration, the project contributed to ongoing efforts to improve the availability, safety, and sustainability of blood services—an essential component of resilient and responsive healthcare systems.