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Niger faces

blood shortage

NIAMEY: At least 22 women have died this year at Niger's biggest maternity hospital for lack of a blood transfusion because fear of AIDS has caused the blood bank to run dry, the hospital's chief doctor said.

"The maternity is still facing difficulties because it gets its supplies from the blood bank at the Niamey national hospital, which is also suffering from a serious shortage," Zeinabou Moumouni told reporters on Friday night.

She said people were afraid to give blood for fear of infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

"There is a real need for information and greater public awareness," she said.

Niger registered 1,697 AIDS cases between 1987 and 1994 in a population of more than eight million. Authorities in the West African country expect the number of cases of the disease, which kills by destroying the body's immune system, to rise to 8,700 by 1998.-Reuter