Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 5/13/2005

[Guest guest]

U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) - 1995-2005 ten years serving the

humanitarian community

[These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENT:

1 - NIGERIA: Obasanjo opens blood transfusion centre to fight HIV/AIDS

1 - NIGERIA: Obasanjo opens blood transfusion centre to fight HIV/AIDS

ABUJA, 12 May (PLUSNEWS) - Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo donated blood

on Thursday at a new transfusion centre in the capital, Abuja, the start of a

drive to clean up the country's chaotic blood-bank system and help stem the

spread of HIV through contaminated blood.

The government puts the official HIV/AIDS prevalence rate at 5 percent in this

country of more than 126 million people.

But Jeff Busch, the director of US charity Safe Blood for Africa that helped the

Nigerian government fund the new centre, said that about 10 percent of one

million samples of blood tested in Africa's most populous nation were

contaminated with the HI-virus.

The new transfusion centre is one of seven planned for Nigeria. It will issue

certificates, guaranteeing the safety of the donated blood it supplies to

hospitals.

Previously, each hospital was responsible for its own blood bank, making the

standardisation of blood screening difficult.

" In this era of emergencies, unanticipated illnesses and the challenge of the

HIV/AIDS scourge, it is important to have safe and wholesome blood to save

lives, " said Obasanjo.

People are often paid to donate blood in Nigeria and the blood testing system

often operates without any regulatory controls.

Untested blood samples are sometimes sold with labels saying they have been

checked for syphilis, hepatitis and AIDS - diseases that can be contracted

through blood transfusion, Busch said.

Obasanjo used the opening ceremony to warn against the practice, saying

Nigerians must stop " relying on touts, blood sellers and other questionable

sources " .

According to Busch six additional blood transfusion centres will be built across

the country in the next five years at the cost of US $20 million.

" When the program is fully implemented we'll stop hundreds of thousands of

people a year from getting infectious diseases, " he said.

Minister of Health Eyitayo Lambo acknowledged that the government's previous

attempts to address the problem had failed.

" My ministry had previously embarked on many ad hoc measures to improve blood

transfusion services in the country, but none of these has had any impact, " said

Lambo. " Blood continued to be scarce, and many avoidable deaths occurred. "

[ENDS]

We have sent this message from a no-reply address to avoid bounced messages into

our general email folder. Please do not hesitate to contact us at

Mail@... with any comments or questions you may have

[This Item is Delivered to the English Service of the UN's IRIN

humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views

of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or

to change your keywords, contact e-mail: Irin@... or Web:

http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post

this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by

commercial sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2005

IRIN Contacts:

IRIN-Asia

Tel: +90 312 454 1177

Fax: +90 312 495 4166

Email: IrinAsia@...

To make changes to or cancel your subscription visit:

http://www.irinnews.org/subscriptions

Subscriber: AIDS treatments