Kenya to set up electronic blood tracking system shanghainews.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from shanghainews.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Organ, tissue donor law in limbo after Bill collapses
HEALTH & SCIENCE
Fridge Box for transporting human donor organs. [Courtesy]
Plans to streamline the harvesting, security and management of human organs have gone up in smoke after key players failed to reach a consensus.
At the centre of the dispute is whether blood can mix with solid body parts. On one hand is the Ministry of Health that wants all body organs and tissue, including blood, to be regulated under one law.
On the other hand, are professional groups led by doctors and laboratory workers who have successfully argued the two cannot mix and should be regulated separately.
Pandemic progress in Kenya
By the end of July 2020, Kenya had reported only 341 deaths and ∼20,000 cases of COVID-19. This is in marked contrast to the tens of thousands of deaths reported in many higher-income countries. The true extent of COVID-19 in the community was unknown and likely to be higher than reports indicated. Uyoga
et al. found an overall seroprevalence among blood donors of 4.3%, peaking in 35- to 44-year-old individuals (see the Perspective by Maeda and Nkengasong). The low mortality can be partly explained by the steep demographics in Kenya, where less than 4% of the population is 65 or older. These circumstances combine to result in Kenyan hospitals not currently being overwhelmed by patients with respiratory distress. However, the imposition of a strict lockdown in this country has shifted the disease burden to maternal and child deaths as a result of disruption to essential medical services.