Apart from the normal racial sensitivity that understandably continues
to flow out of South Africa perhaps this is an interesting development:

"Under the new model, blood donors will be tested for HIV, hepatitis B
and C by using viral amplification technology."

Viral load testing of blood donations is a step forward?

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South African blacks no longer considered high-risk blood donors

Agence France Presse - September 29, 2005
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 29 (AFP) - South African blacks will no longer be
considered high-risk blood donors because of the higher incidence of
HIV/AIDS among them, the National Blood Service said Thursday.

A new risk assessment model for blood donations was unveiled that "does
not use race as an indicator of blood safety," it said in a statement.

A heated contoversy erupted in December when the blood service
acknowledged that race was one of the criteria used to assess whether a
donor was high-risk because more blacks than whites are infected with
HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang had criticised the blood bank
for using racist methodology and demanded that a new model be developed.

"We cannot allow any form of prejudice to limit the great potential we
have as a country," Tshabalala-Msimang told a news conference on
Thursday after expressing satisfaction with the blood service's change
to a new model.

"All the people of South Africa should be given an equal opportunity --
without any discrimination on the basis of race, gender or any other
factor -- to contribute to the supply of safe blood," she said.

Under the new model, blood donors will be tested for HIV, hepatitis B
and C by using viral amplification technology.

The South African national blood service will be the first large blood
transfusion service in the world to use this technology for testing.

South Africa has one of the world's highest caseloads of AIDS, with up
to 6.5 million people out of a population of 46 million living with HIV
and AIDS, according to the health ministry.

http://www.aegis.com/channel/s/AF050929.html