Blood donation among women in Nigeria: Motivators, barriers and appealing incentives.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Women are grossly under-represented among blood donors in Nigeria. We, therefore, determined the barriers, motivators and appealing incentives to blood donation among women in Nigeria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was an internet-based cross-sectional study among women aged 18-65 years. A well-structured questionnaire was used to determine sociodemographic characteristics, motivation, barriers and appealing incentives. Motivational and barrier differences in some sociodemographic characteristics were determined using the chi-squared test. A p-value of 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The most common motivators among blood donors were 'when family or friend is in need of blood', 'health benefits' and 'reminders to donate'. One-time donors who were willing to become regular donors were more motivated by reminders to donate than those not willing (p = 0.000). The most common barriers among non-donors were 'poor attitude of hospital staff' and 'fear of contracting infections'. Younger women and those of the Hausa tribe were more debarred by 'lack of privacy during blood donation exercise' than older women and those of the other tribes (p-values of 0.008 and 0.006, respectively). The most appealing incentives for blood donation were medical consultation and a blood donation certificate. CONCLUSION: Women's participation in blood donation in Nigeria can be improved by sending regular reminders to donors, especially one-time donors and by infrastructural adjustments to improve privacy at the blood donation sites. Specific and targeted capacity-building initiatives should also be put in place to drive a paradigm shift in the attitude of hospital staff to work in Nigeria.

Proteinuric and nonproteinuric chronic kidney disease among patients with sickle cell anaemia (HbSS) attending a tertiary hospital in north-eastern Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND: Individuals with sickle cell anaemia (SCA) may manifest various forms of renal abnormalities. Proteinuria is an early marker of renal dysfunction and a strong risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression in both patients with SCA and non-SCA population. Currently, the degree of attention given to proteinuric CKD far exceeds that of nonproteinuric CKD, and risk factors that might trigger a progressive decline of the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in the absence of proteinuria have not been well evaluated in SCA. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical and laboratory parameters among SCA patients with proteinuric and nonproteinuric CKD. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital in north-eastern Nigeria between January 2013 and April 2018. Clinical variables including age of diagnosis of SCA, frequency of vaso-occlusive crises, number of hospitalizations per annum and transfusion therapy were collected. Laboratory data including haematological profile and renal function test were obtained from routine blood sampling. RESULTS: A total of 257 patients with SCA (HbSS) were enrolled during the study period of which 42 had proteinuric CKD, and 48 had nonproteinuric CKD. The two groups were matched for the number of hospital admission (p = .063) and blood transfusion per year (p = .450), frequency of painful crisis (p = .210), systolic blood pressure (p = .084) and diastolic blood pressure (p = .400). In the proteinuric CKD group, the mean serum creatinine was higher (332.17 µmol/L, p = .001) and the estimated GFR was lower (31.88 mL/min, p = .046). The serum alkaline phosphatase was higher in the nonproteinuric CKD group (81.81 IU/L, p = .012). CONCLUSION: Nonproteinuric CKD was more frequent than proteinuric CKD in our study population; however, the proteinuric group presented with more advanced disease.