Use of routinely collected blood donation data for expanded HIV and Syphilis surveillance in Blantyre district, Malawi.

ABSTRACT: The World Health Organization recommends that all blood donations be screened for transfusion transmissible infections; these data are currently not incorporated into national disease surveillance efforts. We set out to use routinely collected data from blood donors in Blantyre district, Malawi to explore HIV and syphilis prevalence and identify sero-conversions among repeat donors. We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of blood donation data collected by the Malawi Blood Transfusion Service from 2015 to 2021. All blood donations were routinely screened for HIV and syphilis. We characterized donor demographics as well as screening outcomes, including identifying sero-conversions among repeat donors who previously tested negative on their last donation. A total of 23,280 donations fr

SUBMITTER: Singogo E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11346923 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature