[Blood transfusion in Ethiopia].

Nearly 30,000 bags of blood are collected per year in Ethiopia for a population of 56 million people. Eighty percent of this volume is obtained from family donors at the ten blood banks run by the National Transfusion Blood Service (NTBS) under the auspices of the International Red Cross. The remaining 20% are collected in hospital laboratories not affiliated with the NTBS but where blood bank procedures are used including the ability to screen for HIV contamination. Transfusion is thus a safe procedure in the major towns of Ethiopia. Screening for hepatitis B is performed only on blood to be administered to children and foreigners.