Ethiopian-Israelis say the policy on discarding blood is racist
About 200 people have protested in Jerusalem against a decision by the Israeli health ministry to reject blood donated by Ethiopian-Israelis.
At least 11 people were injured in clashes with police.
The protestors said that the practice was racism against Ethiopian-Israelis. The blood has been discarded because of concerns that it may be contaminated.
Officials say that blood could not be donated by people from specific countries where Aids was endemic.
"We are healthy people, like everyone else," protestor Galit Maarat, 24, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. "This is unjust, a terrible affront."
Dr Boaz Lev, the associate director in the Israeli Health ministry, told the BBC Network Africa programme: "This risk group is not specific to Israel. All over the world, it is considered a risk group. Obviously we don't want to subject out patients to even the slightest risk if you can avoid it."
Israel's Channel 2 TV recently reported that the health ministry had revived its practice of discarding blood donated by Ethiopian-Israelis.
There were similar protests a decade ago when the practice emerged. Correspondents say that many people in the Ethiopian-Israeli community feel they are the target of racial discrimination.
Ethiopian-Israelis say the policy on discarding blood is racist
About 200 people have protested in Jerusalem against a decision by the Israeli health ministry to reject blood donated by Ethiopian-Israelis.
At least 11 people were injured in clashes with police.
The protestors said that the practice was racism against Ethiopian-Israelis. The blood has been discarded because of concerns that it may be contaminated.
Officials say that blood could not be donated by people from specific countries where Aids was endemic.
"We are healthy people, like everyone else," protestor Galit Maarat, 24, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. "This is unjust, a terrible affront."
Dr Boaz Lev, the associate director in the Israeli Health ministry, told the BBC Network Africa programme: "This risk group is not specific to Israel. All over the world, it is considered a risk group. Obviously we don't want to subject out patients to even the slightest risk if you can avoid it."
Israel's Channel 2 TV recently reported that the health ministry had revived its practice of discarding blood donated by Ethiopian-Israelis.
There were similar protests a decade ago when the practice emerged. Correspondents say that many people in the Ethiopian-Israeli community feel they are the target of racial discrimination.
Why they discarded the blood? Blood donations are vital in any given ERs.
Not long back the Red Cross was sued for failure to discard blood that came from high AIDS risk areas. I wonder if that ruling had any bearing on this. I do not know if Ethiopia is a high risk area or even what makes an area to be considered high risk.
Why couldn't they just test the blood to see if it had the HIV virus in it?
Unless the tests have changed in the past few years, they have been costly, very time consuming and not much more reliable than social and origin history.
In some ways social history is more reliable as on occasion the aids tests can give a false negative result. It is true that using social history will result in more false positive claims, but perhaps it is best to thow away 1000 good collections than to take the risk of using one infected donation.
It is probable that recent reports like this that have brought about that decision.
AIDS in Ethiopia 6th Report is now online!
The AIDS in Ethiopia 6th report is launched September 18th, 2006. According to the report, the estimated national HIV prevalence in 2005 was 3.5% (3% and 4% for males and females respectively). In 2005, it was estimated that a total of 1,320,000 people were living with HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia
It is probable that recent reports like this that have brought about that decision.
AIDS in Ethiopia 6th Report is now online!
The AIDS in Ethiopia 6th report is launched September 18th, 2006. According to the report, the estimated national HIV prevalence in 2005 was 3.5% (3% and 4% for males and females respectively). In 2005, it was estimated that a total of 1,320,000 people were living with HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia
I thought Ethiopian-Israelis are people born and bred in Israel...
Good point. that would change my entire view. I was under the Impression that the Ethiopians in Israel were recent immigrants. Refugees from the wars in Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Jews, now about 100,000 people, are among the poorest economic groups in Israel. The majority of Ethiopian families, 72%, live under the poverty line. 70% left Ethiopia functionally illiterate in their native Amharic and many remain so in Hebrew as well. Unemployment among Ethiopian men in Israel ranges from 27% to 66%. Fewer than 25% of Ethiopian women are employed. More than half of the 100,000 Ethiopians living in Israel today arrived less than 10 years ago.
Ethiopian Jews, now about 100,000 people, are among the poorest economic groups in Israel. The majority of Ethiopian families, 72%, live under the poverty line. 70% left Ethiopia functionally illiterate in their native Amharic and many remain so in Hebrew as well. Unemployment among Ethiopian men in Israel ranges from 27% to 66%. Fewer than 25% of Ethiopian women are employed.
How about Israeli Arabs? Do they discarded Arab blood too.... or do Arabs poorer than the Ethiopians?
what is the religion of ethiopions? sorry if i ask weird question...
25:36 And the true servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk the earth with humility and when the ignorant address them, they respond with words of peace.
what is the religion of ethiopions? sorry if i ask weird question...
From what I've heard the Falasha Jews were forced to convert to Christianity in Ethiopia.... furthermore the Judaism they practicing is a syncretised version of Judaism and African paganism....
sorry about going slightly off topic but i must ask...What is an Israeli Arab?? Is it someone who has one Arab parent and one Israeli parent?
Many Muslim Arabs are Israeli Citizens, those are the Israeli Arabs.
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reported that Israeli Muslims have a natural reproduction rate that is double that of the Jewish population. The figures, which also include Muslims in East Jerusalem, show that at the beginning of 2003 there were more than one million Muslims in Israel. Almost 40% of the country’s Muslims (400,000 people) live in various communities in the north, the biggest of which is the city of Nazareth, which has 40,000 Muslim residents. Jerusalem has the largest Muslim population, with over 200,000. They make up some 30% of the city’s residents and some 20% of the country’s entire Muslim population. The number of Muslim residents in Israel at the start of 2003 stands at around 1,037,000, about 15% of Israel’s population. According to forecasts, the Muslim population will rise to 1,677,000 people, or 19% of the population, by the end of 2020. Muslims make up 82% of the entire Israeli Arab population, and they will comprise 85% of the Israeli Arab population in 2020. The Muslim population’s average natural rate of increase over the past few years is double that of the Jewish population: 3.6% compared to 1.8%. This rate of increase is one of the highest in the world, even higher than in neighboring Arab countries. Israel’s Muslim population is also young: 42% of Muslims are children under the age of 15, compared with 26% of the Jewish population. The percentage of people over 65 is less than 3% of Muslims, compared with 12% of the Jewish population.
I've heard that there are lots of Muslim guestworkers from Turkey, Thailand, the Philippines and African nations.... do they have the prospect of becoming Israeli citizens?
Plus with 6% increase annually ... Israel has the fastest % increase of Muslims in the whole Midle East region...
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Discarded blood protest in Israel
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