• Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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    11 months ago

    Does West Africa collect plasma as well as whole blood?

    West Africa has an extraordinarily low donation rate, even with payment. I don’t accept that they are a reasonable analog to the US.

    There is one thing countries that refuse paid transfusables have in common, and that is a near-zero infection risk from blood transfusion. Something that is not true for countries that accept paid “donors.”

    Which is the bigger danger to patients, the risk of infection from paid donors, or the risks posed by the 7000-unit per week shortage the Red Cross is claiming?