AG Abubakar1, P Hollands2*, A Abdullahi1, AK Gwarzo3, AH Kwaru3, MA Emokpae4, F Sarkinfada5 and SG Ahmed3
1Institute of Human Virology, 252 Maina Court Central Business District, Abuja,
Nigeria
2The Fertility and Gynaecology Academy, London, UK
3Department of Haematology, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria
4School of Medical Laboratory Sciences, University of Benin Nigeria
5Department of Medical Microbiology, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria
*Corresponding Author: P Hollands, The Fertility and Gynaecology Academy, London, UK.
Received: June 03, 2020; Published: June 15, 2020
Cord blood (collected from the cord and placenta at birth) is a very rich source of fetal haemoglobin, CD34+ haemopoietic stem cells, cytokines and platelets. Fetal haemoglobin, in cord blood erythrocytes, has been used to treat severe anaemia has been reported to have an anti-malarial effect. Nigeria has a wide gap in the provision of safe blood through the WHO approved voluntary and altruistic donation, cord blood transfusion could play a significant role in bridging this gap. Current cord blood collections are a relatively low in volume and this is a potential disadvantage of cord blood transfusion. This can be overcome by multiple transfusions and also by future improvements in collection technology. The National Blood Transfusion Services of Nigeria (NBTS) and other stake holders need to further evaluate and exploit this life saving opportunity through a coherent plan and infrastructure for the creation of a clinically useful cord blood donation programmed across Nigeria. This would result in a massive improvement in the general health and reduce morbidity and mortality in Nigeria. An implementation process is proposed for the introduction of cord blood transfusion in Nigeria.
Keywords: Cord Blood Transfusion; Nigeria; CD34+
Citation: P Hollands., et al. “Prospects and Challenges of Cord Blood Transfusion in Nigeria". Acta Scientific Biotechnology 1.7 (2020): 09-14.
Copyright: © 2020 P Hollands., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.