Search
  1. Home
  2. Southern Africa
  3. Botswana

Needle-sharing pupils may be safe

    JOHANNESBURG
    Botswana's National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA) on Wednesday said most of the school children recently immunised with the same needle had tested negative for HIV. A nurse threw the country's health care system into panic in February by using the same syringe to immunise 170 children against childhood diseases. "None of the children tested were found to be HIV-positive. We are hopeful that a second test will put the children in the clear," NACA national coordinator, Dr Banu Khan, told the UN news service PlusNews. However, Banu pointed out that four of the 170 children still had to be tested, pending consent from the parents. "This incident calls for a review of global precautions on HIV transmission through healthcare," Banu added.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join