Seroprevalence of human immunodeficiency virus among blood donors in Northwest Ethiopia, 1995-2002.

Data on age, sex, occupation, HIV serostatus and year of donation were collected from the blood donors log book of Gondar College of Medical Sciences Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia, for the period between January 1995 and December 2002 and analysed. The crude HIV seroprevalence was 9.9% (1109/11,204). A declining trend in the prevalence was observed from as high as 15.7% (207/1321) in 1995 to 9.3% (123/1327) in 1999 and down to 4.3% (68/1576) in 2002. The declining trend observed in recent years is encouraging and should further be strengthened by making use of the blood bank as an entry point for HIV testing and counselling services.