Message from the President | Sustainability | Taiwan Blood Services Foundation ESG
Sustainability
Message from the President
The United Nations proposed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 as the guidelines for all countries to promote sustainable development by 2030 and respond to the problems and challenges faced by mankind as early as possible. Although we are a medical institution, we are also a member of the earth and should still do our part for the sustainability of our business. Therefore, starting in 2020, we began to promote the importance of corporate social responsibility and corporate sustainability to our colleagues. 2021 was listed as the "Year of Education and Training", focusing on cultivating the relevant knowledge of supervisors. After the resolution made by the supervisors at the consensus camp, the first year of TBSF’s corporate sustainability began in 2022. The Sustainable Development Committee of TBSF was established to plan, execute and supervise the strategies and actions of corporate sustainability of all blood centers to systematically and gradually realize the sustainable goals.
We have always been committed to blood safety and quality assurance. In addition to the comprehensive nucleic acid test (NAT) for HIV, HCV and HBV viruses on the donated blood, we have also continuously introduced mature technology, implemented automated equipment, and strengthened the development of blood technology. In terms of the core blood donation and blood supply business, in order to strengthen the overall quality control, the guidelines of the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB) are used as the basic structure, and the ISO 9001, ISO 27001, ISO 15189, PIC/S GMP and GDP certifications. In 2018, we were awarded the right to host the "APEC Blood Safety Policy Forum", which was highly recognized and praised by our international counterparts. We actively participate in international conferences and exchanges, share Taiwan's experiences and achievements, and practice partnership. I also encourage my colleagues to participate in the "Symbol of National Quality (SNQ)" certification. For five years in a row, we won five "National Biotechnology and Medicine Care Quality Awards", which are national level quality assurance.
In terms of blood donor services, TBSF with diverse service innovation concepts and the use of AI, has become the first organization in the world to cooperate with LINE to build an official blood donation portal "Love to Donate Blood", providing intelligent enquiries, personalized services and emergency response. In addition, TBSF has partnered with Facebook to launch the "Facebook Blood Donation Intelligence Station" service in Taiwan, becoming the first country in East Asia to facilitate this service. This has been effective for the diverse promotion of blood donation drives. In 2021, the blood donation rate reached 77.6%, ranking first in the world, and fully met the medical needs. Therefore, the diversified experience in the recruitment of blood donors has been observed and praised in many countries.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, TBSF actively promoted and implemented virus prevention measures. TBSF provided a safe blood donation environment and strengthened communication with all walks of life to allay the public's concerns about blood drives as sufficient blood for medical use is a strong support for the lives and health of the people of the country. Therefore, our blood centers have combined with social resources to continue to raise sufficient blood sources, so that the blood supply will not be interrupted in order to fully support medical needs and serve as the best backing for the medical team.
In view of the fact that global warming and climate change have aroused great international attention, many countries have successively proposed "net zero emissions by 2050" declarations and actions. Based on the concept of environmental sustainability, the fuel-powered blood donation vehicles of our blood centers will be gradually replaced with electric vehicles or designated eco-friendly blood donation vehicles to reduce carbon emissions. After years of efforts combined with social resources, our blood centers currently have 15 fixed-point blood donation vehicles, which are all eco-friendly with an external power supply. In addition to being more environmentally friendly, the comfort of the public when donating blood has been greatly improved. At present, the blood centers still rely on mobile blood donation vehicles for half of their blood volume. Through donations from associations and enterprises, one hybrid and all-electric mobile blood donation vehicle has joined the blood donation process. We will overcome the difficulties and continue to work hard towards the goal of gradually replacing the fuel-engine blood donation vehicles.
As TBSF's goal is to gather the love of all people to accomplish the mission of donating blood to save lives, we are duty-bound to the sustainable development of the blood business. In particular, faced with the post-pandemic era challenges, it is necessary for TBSF to review the relevant operations and service related operations and services, while striving to achieve the goal of sustainable development. Therefore, the purpose of publishing the Corporate Sustainability Report is to review our corporate sustainability actions year by year and plan the direction of future endeavors to achieve a balanced supply and demand of blood for medical use, blood safety, and environmental sustainability, becoming a trusted healthcare partner.