US Ambassador Lays Cornerstone for new Blood Bank in Adama

March 3, 2007
No. 13/07

Addis Ababa (U.S. Embassy) --  As part of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, PEPFAR, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health, Regional Health Bureaus, the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, and the World Health Organization, U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Don Yamamoto today laid the cornerstone for a new blood bank in Adama city.

The event in Adama marks the start of construction of sixteen blood banks throughout Ethiopia, an important component of a strategy that is being implemented by PEPFAR in partnership with the Ethiopian government, the Ethiopian Red Cross and the World Health Organization to provide safe and adequate blood supplies, which will help combat HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases transmissible via blood transfusion (such as malaria).  Blood transfusion is responsible for 5 – 10% of HIV transmissions in Africa.  With the addition of the newly-constructed blood banks, this program will significantly improve the availability and safety of blood and blood products in Ethiopia.

To date, the U.S. government has provided 40 million Birr for this PEPFAR program through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  An additional 15 million Birr will be allocated for this effort in 2007. 

For more information, contact:
Tina Malone, Information Officer
US Embassy, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tel: 011 517 4244
e-mail:  MaloneBA@state.gov