Blood diplomacy: Values and standards in a vital public health infrastructure

This case study appears in: Mays C, Laborie L, Griset P (eds) (2022) Inventing a shared science diplomacy for Europe: Interdisciplinary case studies to think with history. Human blood is essential for a vast range of therapeutic treatments, in the form of transfusions and the administration of medicinal blood products. The issue of blood safety is thus a preeminent public health issue, and national healthcare policy always seeks to ensure a pristine and secure blood supply. Blood safety is also the object of international and supranational collaborative efforts, interrelated with the governance of blood supply as a vital infrastructure. We examine the ethical values promoted in international cooperation around the circulation of human blood products and around setting common safety standards, and discern the interactions of formal and informal health diplomacy. The dynamic character of blood supply infrastructure manifests underlying tensions in the policy-shaping processes, throwing light on the complex negotiations of blood diplomacy