By 2010, it is projected that the newborn Zimbabweans will have a life expectancy of only 31 years. Other countries face similar futures. In Kenya, for example, averge life expectancy at birth has already fallen from 66 years to 48, and in Botswana it dropped from the same figure to a mere 40. He is probably right. But the epidemic will continue out of control unless blood safety and improvements in health care delivery receive far more attention in global AIDS prevention.
Transfusions are in great demand in Africa.
In several studies, more than 20 percent of pediatric infections were directly traced to HIV-contaminated transfusions. In Kinshasa, just over a quarter of institutions providing transfusions actually received screening kits on a regular basis. Most likely the AIDS epidemic in the United States today would equate with the crisis in Africa had we chosen to ignore blood safety and universal precautions. In Africa, health care facilities are infecting substantial numbers of patients through transfusions and invasive medical procedures. It is ludicrous to expend enormous human and financial resources to prevent AIDS, if the world community does not also invest in straightforward medical hygiene in developing countries.