Abstract:

Background: According to the latest Tanzanian National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) report a total of 147,271 individuals donated blood during the year 2002. However safety remains an issue of major concern in transfusion medicine in Tanzania where national blood transfusion services and policies, appropriate infrastructure, trained personnel and financial resources are inadequate. Most of the donated blood is screened for HIV alone.

Objective: To determine prevalence of HIV, Hepatitis B and C infection amongst family replacement and voluntary blood donors at the National Blood Transfusion Services, North Western Tanzania.

Methodology: This study was a cross sectional study involving Blood donors at the Lake zone Blood bank. A total of 225 men and women will be involved in the study. Data will be obtained through administered questionnaires and analyzed with SPSS program.

Results: Two hundred and fifty four (15.9%) of the donated blood had serological evidence of infection with at least one pathogen and 28 (1.8%) had multiple infections. The current seroprevalence of HIV, HBsAg and HCV among blood donors at Lake Zone Blood Bank in Mwanza was found to be 7.1%, 8.9% and 2.2% respectively. Respective seroprevalences among HIV seronegative blood donors was for HBV 8%, for HCV 1.3% where by 2 donors had HIV and HBV co-infection no donor with both HIV and HCV the differences in the prevalence of HIV between replacement and voluntary donors were statistically significant.

Conclusion: The high (15.9%) seroprevalence of blood-borne infections in blood donated at The Lake Zone Blood Bank calls for routine screening of blood donors for HBV, HCV and HIV for strict selection criteria of donors, with emphasis on getting young voluntary donors and for establishment of strict guidelines for blood transfusions.