Notes


 * 1) The Sphere project (www.sphereproject.org), "a consortium of the international humanitarian community," published a handbook in January 2000 describing minimum standards and related key indicators applicable to emergency relief programmes. This "humanitarian charter" covers water and sanitation, nutrition, food aid, shelter and site planning, and medical services.
 * 2) The World Food Programme estimates that more than 800 million people go to bed hungry each day, and 24 000 die each day from hunger and related causes.
 * 3) The Sphere project states that the assessment of performance of single agencies must take into account the general context of the emergency, particularly resource availability, access, and interventions by other.
 * 4) The Sphere project has three main standards: Assessment, Response, and Monitoring and Evaluation.
 * 5) For the past 50 years, Project HOPE has been committed to achieving long-term sustainable advances in health care.
 * 6) Over the course of its history, Project HOPE has delivered health education and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries, distributed nearly $2 billion in medicines, medical supplies and equipment, and trained more than 2 million health care workers.
 * 7) In the past year alone, Project HOPE has responded to: earthquakes in Peru and China; Tajikistan's harshest winter in 25 years; hurricanes in the Caribbean; and the aftermath of the conflict in Georgia. Project HOPE will also continue to conduct humanitarian missions with the U.S. Navy.
 * 8) In 1996, Project HOPE began addressing HIV/AIDS by incorporating HIV prevention education into reproductive health programs in Malawi. Since then, the HIV/AIDS program at Project HOPE has expanded into 14 countries worldwide and now provides a full spectrum of prevention, care, treatment and support. As a testament to the HIV/AIDS Health Professional Education Program's efficacy, the program helped reduce mortality rates in one Chinese province by 72 percent.
 * 9) Since engaging with the U.S. Navy in 2005 to provide relief in the wake of the catastrophic Indian Ocean Tsunami, Project HOPE has participated in ten humanitarian assistance health education missions with more than 600 HOPE volunteers and treated nearly 300,000 people in 27 countries.
 * 10) Blood donation is the process where a person (called a blood donor) voluntarily gives (or donates) blood that will be securely stored at a designated place (often times called a blood bank) for some future use, often for a blood transfusion. People sometimes donate blood for themselves, often times when they know that they are scheduled for surgery at a near future point in time. In all, donating blood is a simple and relatively painless procedure that can help save lives.
 * 11) According to the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), about eight million volunteer donors donate the (approximate) 13 million pints of blood used in the United States each year. The blood is used to help a variety of people. Donated blood can help restore a person's blood volume after surgery, accident, or childbirth; improve the immunity of a patient suffering from cancer or leukemia and other diseases; and improve the blood's ability to carry oxygen.
 * 12) Sometimes the donated blood is used as whole blood; that is, the blood from a donor is administered in its entirety to the recipient. In other cases, the blood is separated into its components (platelets, plasma, red and white cells, and clotting factors), and administered to a patient in need of that specific component.
 * 13) With new equipment, there is no way of contracting a disease when donating blood.
 * 14) To protect the United States blood supply (and blood recipients), each donor is carefully screened to make sure he or she is in good health. At the donation center, a donor will be asked his or her name and address, and this information will be verified. His or her pulse, temperature, and blood pressure are taken. The donor is asked if he or she has ever had a condition that might disqualify him or her as a donor; for example, hepatitis, malaria, heart disease, AIDS (Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), and most forms of cancer would make someone unsuitable as a donor. If a person's blood pressure is too high or too low, if she is pregnant, or if he or she has had major surgery recently, he or she will be asked to wait a period of time before donating.
 * 15) The donated blood is sealed in a special plastic bag that contains substances that will keep it from clotting (anticoagulants) and will preserve it. Refrigerated, whole blood is useable for up to 42 days. Blood components, however, can be preserved for much longer—in the case of red blood cells, up to 10 years, if frozen.
 * 16) A sample of the donated blood is taken for testing. It is checked for infections diseases like AIDS and syphillis, for anemia, and, if the blood type is not already known, for blood typing. Human blood falls into three major groups, A, B, and O; the types get their names from certain molecules found on the surface of the red blood cells. If a person receives a donation of an incompatible blood type, the blood cells can clump together, a dangerous and possibly fatal situation. Type O blood can be received by persons with A, B, or AB blood (which is why type O is sometimes called the "universal donor"), but a person with Type O blood can only receive Type O blood. It is also important to match the Rh factor of the blood, which can be positive or negative.
 * 17) There are several special donation procedures. Persons who are expecting to undergo surgery may opt to donate several pints of their own blood, which is stored and given back to them during the surgery. This is called an autologous transfusion.
 * 18) A donor may give only a specified component of the blood, which is extracted by machine from the donated blood before the donated blood is returned to the donor's body. This is a procedure called apheresis. In addition, a patient's family members can donate blood specifically for the patient (as long as their blood type and Rh factors are compatible). This is called a designated or direct donation.
 * 19) In 1909, Austrian physician Karl Landsteiner (1868-1943) discovered at the University of Vienna that blood is not identical in all people; in fact, he found that blood comes in different types. Landsteiner's experiments distinguished three groups of blood: A, B, and O. Two of Landsteiner's students later discovered the rare AB group. For his work, Landsteiner won the 1930 Nobel Prize in medicine. His experiments pioneered the advancement of the ABO blood group system.
 * 20) A child inherits genes from each parent that determine his or her blood type. This makes blood typing useful in paternity testing. Legal investigations may require typing of blood to identify persons involved in crimes or other legal matters.
 * 21) Blood typing and crossmatching tests are based on the reaction between antigens and antibodies. An antigen is a foreign substance that causes the body to launch an attack against it; what is known as an immune response. The body builds proteins called antibodies to neutralize each specific antigen. Blood typing and crossmatching tests are based on the reaction between antigens and antibodies. An antigen is a foreign substance that causes the body to launch an attack against it; what is known as an immune response. The body builds proteins called antibodies to neutralize each specific antigen. When blood is typed, a person's blood is mixed in a test tube with commercially prepared serum and cells. Clumping tells which antigens are present and reveals the person's blood type. When blood is crossmatched, patient serum is mixed with cells from donated blood that might be used for transfusion. Clumping or lack of clumping in the test tube tells whether or not the blood is compatible.
 * 22) A person's ABO blood type—A, B, AB, or O—is based on the presence or absence of the A and B antigens on red blood cells. The A blood type has only the A antigen, and the B blood type has only the B antigen. The AB blood type has both A and B antigens, and the O blood type has neither A nor B antigen. Although the distribution of each of the four ABO blood types varies among racial groups, O is the most common and AB is the least common. A person must receive ABO-matched blood for a transfusion. ABO incompatibilities are the major cause of fatal transfusion reactions.
 * 23) Use of blood components is a more efficient way to use the blood supply, because blood that has been processed (fractionated) into components can be used to treat more than one person.
 * 24) On average, one pint of blood components is used for three patients.
 * 25) Each year in the United States, about 4.5 million people are in need of blood transfusions. Of these, about 53 percent of the blood transfusions are received by women, with the other 47 percent being received by men.
 * 26) Donors are advised to drink plenty of liquids to replace the fluid lost with the donated blood. Strenuous exercise should be avoided for the rest of the day. Most patients have very slight symptoms or no symptoms at all after donating blood.
 * 27) Each year in the United States, about 14,000,000 pints (6,624,00 liters) of blood are donated and about 11,680,000 pints (5,5270,000 liters) used.
 * 28) Blood collection is strictly regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has rules for the collection, processing, storage, and transportation of blood and blood products. In addition, the American Red Cross, the American Association of Blood Banks, and most states have specific rules for the collection and processing of blood.
 * 29) Directed donors are family or friends of the patient who needs a transfusion. Blood that is not used for the identified patient becomes part of the general blood supply.
 * 30) Experts predict an annual shortfall of four million units of blood by the year 2030.
 * 31) At least half a dozen blood substitutes are currently being tested in clinical trials.
 * 32) In the case of HemAssist, also called diaspirin crosslinked hemoglobin (DCLHb), the extracted hemoglobin is cresslinked with diaspirin, an aspirin derivative. The crosslink acts as a 2,3-DPG analogue, allowing for the release of oxygen. By binding the subunits of the hemoglobin molecule together, the crosslink stabilizes the molecule, preventing rapid renal excretion and allowing the hemoglobin to withstand heating.
 * 33) HemAssist can be heat pasteurized and then ultrafiltered during processing, virtually eliminating any viruses. And because the hemoglobin in these HBOC solutions has been removed from the RBC, it is flee from specific antibody types, making it universally compatible. It can, therefore, be infused without typing and crossmatching.
 * 34) A Blood Donation center in IL says that donating blood is healthy for you, but relieving the body of excess iron. This group found that heart diseases were less common in those over 50 who regularly donated blood.
 * 35) If blood is not in use where it is collected or originally delivered, it will be shipped out across the country so that it does not "expire" and someone can find use of it.
 * 36) A pint of blood is sometimes referred to as a "unit" of blood.
 * 37) A unit of blood is the normal amount taken at a blood drive.
 * 38) After any natural disaster the Red Cross is usually the first to show up, and the last to leave.
 * 39) Doctors Without Borders rehabilitates hospitals and dispensaries, sets up vaccination programs and projects for safe water and sanitation, and trains local personnel to carry out its programs.
 * 40) Doctors Without Borders received the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize "in recognition of the organization's pioneering humanitarian work on several continents." The group was also cited for helping to form bodies of public opinion opposed to violations and abuses of power.
 * 41) The United States leads all other nations in the net amount of money donated to help other nations in foreign aid.
 * 42) Not only does the Red Cross collect blood for transfusions, but it also takes some blood to labs to work on researching cures for certain diseases.