A guide to establishing a national haemovigilance system

The goal of haemovigilance is continuous quality improvement of the transfusion chain through corrective and preventive actions to improve donor and patient safety, improve transfusion appropriateness, and reduce wastage. At its core, a haemovigilance system resembles any continuous quality improvement cycle and shows the same elements and activities. As such, haemovigilance should be embedded into every step of the transfusion chain, and into every organization that has responsibility for a part of that chain.