WHO urges shift to single-use smart syringes

Smart syringes that break after one use should be used for injections by 2020, the World Health Organization has announced.

Reusing syringes leads to more than two million people being infected with diseases including HIV and hepatitis each year.

The new needles are more expensive, but the WHO says the switch would be cheaper than treating the diseases.

More than 16 billion injections are administered annually.

Normal syringes can be used again and again.

But the smart ones prevent the plunger being pulled back after an injection or retract the needle so it cannot be used again.

Dr Selma Khamassi, the head of the WHO team for injection safety, told the BBC News website:

"This will hopefully help eliminate the 1.7 million new hepatitis B cases, the 300,000 hepatitis C cases and the 35,000 HIV cases every year, and all those we don't have figures for, such as Ebola and Marburg."