Abuja — Minister of Labour who is also supervising the health ministry, Dr. Hassan Lawal , yesterday lamented the prevalence of HIV/AIDS resulting from poor blood transfusion in the country.

He said this yesterday at a press briefing to mark the World AIDS Day held in Abuja, stressing that blood transfusions accounted for up to 10 percent of new HIV infections in Nigeria , attributing this to poor facilities in most of the hospitals.

"There is a high demand for blood because of blood loss from surgery and childbirth, road-traffic accidents and anaemia and malaria. Not all Nigerian hospitals have the technology for effective blood screening and therefore contaminated blood is often used.

"The Federal Ministry of Health has responded by backing legislations that require hospitals to only use blood from the National Blood Transfusion Service, which far more has advanced blood screening technology and has also put in place strategies for making medical injections safer in our health facilities," he said.

According to the Minister, the Yar'Adua administration remained committed to supporting research on HIV prevention, treatment and cure. "One of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's priorities is tackling the Nigerian HIV/AIDS epidemic. It is part of this celebration world wide to remind ourselves of the threat of the HIV/AIDS pandemic to humanity," he said.

He put the number of children orphaned by AIDS at about 2,299,883, saying it is projected that by 2010, 3,132,426 Nigerians would be living with HIV.

The greatest, he however said, had been the number of death from AIDS .