Ensuring effective financing of national blood systems in support of universal health coverage

1Medical Officer, Blood and Transfusion Safety, Department of Communicable Diseases Control, World Health Organization, Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Cairo, Egypt. 2 Regional Adviser, Health Economics and Financing, Department of Health System Development, World Health Organization, Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Cairo, Egypt. 3Medical Director, Sharjah Blood Transfusion & Research Center (WHO Collaborating Centre for Training and Research in Blood Transfusion), Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. 4Director, High Institute of Research and Education in Transfusion Medicine, Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization, (WHO Collaborating Centre for Research & Training on Blood Safety), Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. 5Director, International Quality Management (IQM) Consulting and Professor of International Development of Transfusion Medicine, Zuidhorn, The Netherlands. (Correspondence to: Yetmgeta Abdella: abdellay@who.int).