BENIN: Blood shortage proves deadly

COTONOU Wednesday, October 08, 2008 (IRIN) - Fear, a lack of blood donation supplies and ill-trained health staff have led to a dangerous blood shortage in Benin, said the head of the country’s blood donor association. “If the outcry over blood shortages were the same as the uproar over AIDS, we could avoid a lot of damage and death,” said Rynce Agassoussi, the president of the Beninese Association of Blood Donors. He said it is hard to know how many people die because of blood loss because...