Since 2007, the Ontario Regional Blood Coordinating Network (ORBCoN) and Canadian Blood Services have partnered in hosting an annual Transfusion Medicine Education Symposium and Workshop for transfusion health-care professionals with the primary objective of providing best practice information on blood transfusion to healthcare staff in community and rural hospitals across Ontario. In this blog, Valérie Rhéaume of ORBCoN provides a summary of the most recent event, held in April 2024.

A new kind of proposed treatment for sickle cell disease—one that removes the need for a compatible donor—is being studied by Dr. Harinad Maganti, a scientist at Canadian Blood Services.

Community-based research highlights the priorities and barriers to blood donation of African, Caribbean and Black communities to helps to show a path towards a greater ability to meet the needs of patients, including those with sickle cell disease

Since 2018, Canadian Blood Services has supported the development of evidence-based guidelines on red blood cell transfusion in patients with hemoglobinopathies through its work with the International Collaboration for Transfusion Medicine Guidelines (ICTMG). Hemoglobinopathies include sickle cell disease, thalassemia and other conditions that affect the structure, chemistry, or production of red blood cells. This blog describes recent efforts to update the ICTMG’s hemoglobinopathies guideline.