Message from TBSF President | Sustainability | Taiwan Blood Services Foundation ESG

Drops of blood accumulate into a stream. Under the leadership of the government and with the enthusiastic participation of the public, Taiwan's blood donation services have successfully promoted voluntary and unpaid blood donation campaigns and worked to ensure the safety of blood products. Tracing back to the roots, the current abundant achievements are truly the result of the hard work and dedication of our predecessors.

After years of effort, our organization has not only become a trusted partner of medical professionals but also aims to achieve sustainable operations in the future. Since 2022, I have officially declared it the first year of corporate sustainability for our organization, establishing the "Sustainability Development Promotion Committee" under the Taiwan Blood Foundation to implement sustainability with comprehensive and systematic considerations. Up to this year, we have continued to promote sustainability across various aspects.

In response to the "2050 Net-Zero Transition," our organization has referenced international standards such as GRI, AA1000, SDGs, TCFD, and SASB. Through decisions and consensus from meetings of the board, the Sustainability Development Promotion Committee, and management workshops, we have gradually implemented these standards and earned national recognition. By establishing an environmentally friendly blood donation vehicle fleet and creating a donor-friendly environment, we received the "2023 3rd TSAA Taiwan Sustainable Action Award" with the "SDG13 Climate Action—Establishment of an Environmentally Friendly Blood Donation Fleet" bronze award. Since 2023, we have gradually updated our fleet with one hybrid blood transport vehicle and two large hybrid blood donation vehicles. Our organization has also joined the Ministry of Environment’s "Green Office" partnership, using environmentally friendly soy-based ink for promotional materials and reducing the number of printed items. The gifts for blood donors are also moving towards "green procurement," supporting local regeneration or social innovation, earning us the Ministry of Economic Affairs' "Buying Power Social Innovation Product and Service Procurement Award." Digital transformation is also a key part of achieving net-zero. In terms of donor services, the "Donor Area" provides 24-hour access for blood donors to check information such as blood donation appointments, donation records, and test reports. The Blood Management Information System (BMS) ensures blood product safety and manages blood information, with significant improvements in rigor and efficiency after multiple revisions. Internally, we have continuously promoted paperless operations, establishing electronic document systems and online attendance approval systems since 2021.

Our organization is dedicated to ensuring blood safety. Since 2013, we have introduced Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) for virus detection, complementing existing serological tests. We use two testing methods simultaneously for HIV, hepatitis B (HBV), and hepatitis C (HCV). Until 2023, over the past decade, no cases of HIV, HCV, or HBV transmission through blood transfusion have been reported, significantly enhancing blood safety. This achievement earned the "2023 3rd TSAA Taiwan Sustainable Action Award" with the "SDG3 Good Health and Well-being—Nucleic Acid Testing to Ensure Blood Transfusion Safety" bronze award. To reduce transfusion reactions, we have fully supplied leukoreduced red blood cells before storage since 2022. Additionally, to enhance precise transfusion, we strengthened the detection and labeling of eight blood cell antigens for this product, improving hospital matching efficiency and reinforcing patient transfusion safety.

The trends of declining birth rates and an aging population are issues that our organization must address. From the perspective of clinical blood use, I continuously advocate for proactive blood donation efforts. Furthermore, our organization must continue promoting "Patient Blood Management (PBM)" to assist in the more precise use of blood components in clinical settings, prevent adverse transfusion reactions, reduce medical costs, and achieve more efficient use of blood. The "Blood Component Essentials" manual, revised and compiled by numerous doctors in 2020, was officially updated and renamed the "Lean Transfusion Manual," with the second edition published in 2022. The same year, it was also awarded the "Good Book Award" by the Taipei Medical Association.

The target for proactive blood donation includes not only citizens eligible to donate but also focuses on educating and advocating to the next generation. "Saving lives through blood donation" must never stop. To ensure a sustainable balance between blood supply and medical demand, we hope to inspire the younger generation to roll up their sleeves when they are eligible to donate in the future. In 2023, our organization published Taiwan's first blood science popularization book tailored for adolescents, "The Little Big People's Blood Class." The book covers various aspects such as history, society, biotechnology, and health education, presented in an engaging and easy-to-understand format, helping adolescents learn about blood donation and its importance. To encourage reading, we donated copies to all junior high schools and public libraries across the country. Excitingly, "The Little Big People's Blood Class" won the 2023 Openbook Good Book Award, signifying that this book is not only a recommended purchase for schools but also that blood donation education will take root and flourish further.

Employees are always our organization's most important partners. In addition to building a comprehensive human resources management system, we provide a diverse learning environment for in-service training, encourage continued education, and offer a safe, friendly workplace with well-rounded welfare systems. Our organization and all four blood donation centers across Taiwan have successively received Health Promoting Workplace certification from the Health Promotion Administration and earned the Activation Mark. We will continue to promote a friendly workplace and care for our employees' health in the future.

Gathering the love of many people to accomplish the mission of "saving lives through blood donation" is our responsibility. Driving the sustainable development of the blood donation industry is our organization's duty and imperative. Therefore, the purpose of publishing our organization's sustainability report is to review our corporate sustainability efforts year by year and plan the future direction of our efforts, fulfilling the corporate responsibilities of balancing medical blood donation supply and safety, environmental sustainability, and becoming a trusted medical partner for all.

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.