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Blood bank tries new tests
07/06/2005 22:01 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The SA National Blood Service has received two testing instruments as part of efforts to exclude racial profiles from its blood-safety procedures, the organisation said on Tuesday.
Last year, the service was ordered by the department of health to develop blood-safety procedures that relied less on a racial profile after it was revealed that it considered black donors' blood a higher risk than other race groups.
This was based on statistics showing a higher number of black people testing positive for HIV/Aids, which can be transmitted by blood, than other race groups.
Blood service chief executive Anthon Heyns said staff were being trained to use the two instruments which test individual blood donations for HIV, the Hepatitis C virus and the Hepatitis B virus and they should be fully operational by September.
The new system reduced the window-period risk of transmitting diseases through a blood transfusion.
Excited about new system
A window period is a time when HIV is not detected in a blood sample, but can be passed on through contact with the blood.
"We won't use race as a risk indicator," said Heyns. "It is a whole new system that we are implementing. We are quite excited about it."
The new testing method will be coupled with a revised educational campaign which begins next month.
However, racial classification would remain on the forms that donors had to complete.
This was to evaluate its recruitment process and to make sure the service met its commitments to representing the whole population in its blood supplies, said Heyns.
When asked what the message was for black donors, Heyns said: "They must come, and come again. We want every person to donate and we will use the blood.
"There will be no discrimination. We are looking for them and will need all of them. We need them now."
Encouraging recruitment
His only rider was that whoever donated blood committed themselves to donations in the long-term and did not use the service just for an HIV/Aids test.
"These campaigns will seek to develop new, highly informed donor communities to both encourage the recruitment of low-risk first-time donors across the country and to protect the safety of the blood supply through donor retention."
Research showed that long-term donors tended to pursue healthy lifestyles, including safe sex ,and were more likely to remain free of transmissible infections.
"Blood donation is a precious gift that saves thousands of lives each year," said Heyns.
- SAPA
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