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AIDS-free youth urged to donate blood

    JOHANNESBURG

    A new project in Botswana is educating young people on how to stay free of HIV in order to supply public hospitals with safe blood.

    According to Dr Mukendi Kaembe, a National Blood Transfusion Service pathologist, the "Pledge 25" initiative which was based on a model from Zimbabwe, was directed at school-age youth.

    "This is because most of them are not yet sexually active, which means they are still free from HIV. The project aims at making donors pledge to donate blood 25 times in their lifetime," Reuters quoted Kaembe as saying.

    The World Health Organisation estimates that up to 10 percent of global HIV infections were caused by contaminated blood transfusions.

    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

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