RESUMO
Donating blood is an essential practice that can help save lives. Effective strategies are necessary to attract and keep blood donors to meet the demand for safe blood. To evaluate the experience of voluntary blood donors in Zanzibar, a survey was conducted, and purposive sampling was used to select participants who had donated blood multiple times. The study involved interviewing 15 repeat blood donors, and the data collected was analyzed thematically. Two main themes emerged from the analysis: motivators and barriers. Despite a few negative effects, most participants had positive experiences with repeat blood donation, and only few experienced physical reactions during or after the process. The study concludesthat blood donors in Zanzibar generally have good experience towards repeat blood donation, although community participation, education, and sensitization are needed to recruit and maintain more donors.
RESUMO
Background: A voluntary non-remunerated blood donor forms the firm foundation of blood transfusion services of a country. The healthy, active and receptive student population can be potential blood donor to meet the safe blood requirements. The objective of this study was to find out the prevalence of blood donors and to explore the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) of the college students of Jammu, India regarding Voluntary Non-Remunerated Blood Donation (VNRBD). Methods: A descriptive study was conducted over a period of one year. It involved students of six colleges. A structured donor questionnaire regarding KAP on VNRBD was distributed among the college students. Results: 1520 college students with 880 females and 640 males were involved in the study. Out of which 210 were blood donors. Prevalence of blood donors was 13.81%. In this study 81.57 % of students were aware of Voluntary Blood Donation (VBD). 62.5% of the students had awareness regarding spread and transmission of HIV/AIDS. 49.34% students were not aware of the fact that paid / professional blood donation has been banned in India. 76.68% of the students had knowledge that blood donation has medical benefits. The commonest reason for blood donation was sense of social responsibility and for not donating blood was fear of illness. 90.13% of the students were willing to donate blood in future. Conclusions: To increase the prevalence of voluntary blood donation, specific campaigns involving interactive awareness sessions on blood donation should be organized, targeting the youth, motivating them to become regular voluntary blood donors should be conducted. Barriers to blood donation especially by women should be studied and evaluated. Efforts must be undertaken to bring the knowledge and positive attitude towards VBD into application in future to achieve the goal of 100% VNRBD.
RESUMO
A multicentric quasi-experimental study was conducted in Delhi, from March 2007 to September 2007, on i) the factors which stimulate the donors to donate blood, ii) major barriers and myths associated with blood donation and iii) clinicians perception of the rational use of blood. The study design included a face-to-face survey, with a pre-tested questionnaire paper in two leading blood banks of Delhi and by relevant interviewers from the community and medical fraternity. The sample size was 240-blood donors from two different blood banks and the control group included 100 potential donors from community and 50 clinicians from various hospitals. The data generated was analyzed using excel sheet and Epi-Info software. The study revealed the factors which influence the blood donation included replacement credit and family/peer pressure. Regarding myths and barriers, among potential donors, about a quarter of them felt that it is time consuming, and 20% felt it could lead to sexual impairment or is not rewarding. A total of 10% were not aware about the blood donation while 15% said that donation time was inconvenient. Of the 50 clinicians, a quarter of them were not aware of the rational use of blood.