Mr Tonderai Mapako
E-mail: mapakot@yahoo.co.uk
Telephone: +263 4 707801/4
Fax: +263 4 707820
Mobile: +263 11638425
Executive Officer
Research, Development & Data Management
National Blood Service
Zimbabwe
P. O. Box A101
Avondale
Harare
Zimbabwe
There are two activities and one publication that are of importance in this first edition of our newsletter and information page. The first is the redesigned website of our Society and the second is the announcement of details of the 5th AfSBT Congress to be held in Nairobi, Kenya from 24 to 27 June 2009.
Also note the information about the publication "Introduction for Blood Transfusion Technology" by B. Armstrong et al. The AfSBT is proud that the lead author of this important publication is our Scientific Editor, Ms Beryl Armstrong. We congratulate her and her team on this achievement!
As you no doubt have noticed the website of the AfSBT has been redesigned. This new website is the first in a series of steps that will completely change the focus and image of our Society as mirrored by the website. This is therefore only the first steps and the website will be enhanced over time.
In order to gain international support the website will be based on the operational national blood services in African countries. This can only be achieved by increasing the number of African blood services with corporate membership of the AfSBT. The country chapters will be linked to the website via their blood services. Representatives of the blood services will send us news to be published on the website. We have listed some African blood services and contact names and details. We hope that the contact persons will in time provide us with more details of their Services so that we can have a comprehensive picture of the status of blood transfusion in Africa. Namibia has done this already and their information is a good illustration of what we want to achieve. The website will take into account language differences and the intention is soon to duplicate French and English materials.
The ultimate focus of the website will be to gather available resources on one platform and site. The website could be developed as a platform for web based training with the focus on appropriate material and courses for African blood services. The blood transfusion journal of the AfSBT, Africa Sanguine, could also be published electronically and distributed via the website.
The webmaster of the AfSBT website is Mr Tonderai Mapako. Tonderai is the Executive Officer – Research, Development and Data Management of the National Blood Service Zimbabwe. If you do have any queries or want to submit information for inclusion on the website please contact Tonderai. His contact details are given in the right column of this page.