Recruitment Of Voluntary Blood Donors Research Articles

Recruitment and Retention of Voluntary Blood Donors Through Electronic Communication

Dear Editor, Recruitment of voluntary blood donors is an important task. Human blood is an essential element of the human life and there are no substitutes for it (1). Studies have proved that voluntary blood donation enhances safe blood transfusion (2) when compared to replacement blood donation. The need for blood is growing day by day as a result of the advancement in the clinical medicine (3). Recruiting new blood donors and retention of them should be a main target of a blood bank (4). Many tailor made strategies are being adopted to meet their need for blood and blood products. Non-availability of blood for the needy on time is an everlasting social problem. It is our social responsibility to save human lives by donating the gift of blood to save valuable lives. The blood banks aim at sourcing safe regular, repeat voluntary blood donors, who are fully aware of transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs) and committed to providing safe blood to the recipients. Voluntary blood donation camps should be organized in schools, colleges, villages and towns, so that nonblood donors are exposed to features of such camps. Observing the activities of these camps could motivate them to become volunteers themselves. During the camps, organizers may use electronic media and other sources for motivating blood donors. SMS, emails, websites, electronic and social networks are fast and appropriate tools to convey information for motivating bulk donors among youth and literates. Sending bulk messages through email, SMS and popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Google plus, Orkut and Tagged could help motivators to recruit more blood donors in a broader area. Religious festivals, marriage receptions, birthday celebrations of political leaders etc. could also be used to recruit more potential blood donors. The camp organizer could do the registration at the proposed venue, with donor details including mobile phone and email address two or three days prior to the commencement of voluntary blood donation. After collecting all this information details about camp date and time, venue and other information can be sent to the registered donors through phone, SMS, email, electronic and social networks. This will help donors to prepare themselves to take part in the donation drives. Attractive thank-you messages could be sent to all the blood donors with reminders of the next due date for donation. Electronic communication can be a useful tool in recruiting and retaining more blood donors to overcome blood shortages.

Donor awareness: key to successful voluntary blood donation

Context: The current regulatory requirements for donor eligibility pose a challenge to blood centers in recruitment of voluntary blood donors, particularly in a developing country like India where awareness of the general population is low and myths about blood donation are prevalent. This study evaluates the reasons and rates of donor deferral in a tertiary hospital-based blood bank in western India.Aim: To find rates and reasons for deferral of voluntary blood donors in a city in western India.Settings and design: A retrospective study was done on blood donors during a 3-month period. Data collection was done by electronic records of blood donors.Materials and Methods: The study was conducted retrospectively at a tertiary care hospital in western India. All those who donated whole blood between 1st January 2011 and 31st March 2011 were included in the study. Data was collected using local blood bank software.Statistical analysis used: No statistical technique used as it is a data article.Results: 60.5% of donors were young, below 30 years of age. Donors were predominantly male (91.6%). Voluntary donors comprised 88% of the donors. Total deferral rate was 22.36%, with 17.29% permanent deferrals and 82.71% temporary deferrals. Main reasons for deferral were anemia 39.42%, low body weight 14.29%, hypertension 10.73%, age below 18 years 10.73% and history of medication 6.09%. The common causes of deferral between our study and other similar studies are the same.Conclusion: We concluded that majority of the donor population belongs to 18–30-year-old age group. This is encouraging with a voluntary blood donation initiative. Donor self exclusion and strict donor selection criteria application should be addressed by more proactive measures to make blood donation a safe and pleasurable experience.

Blood donation in Morocco: a 20‐year retrospective study of blood collection in the Rabat blood centre

We trace the history of blood donors and the recruitment strategies developed between 1988 and 2008 in the regional blood transfusion centre of Rabat. Beside, we draw a distribution map of the blood donors' population in Morocco during the year 2008. Limited resource countries face considerable obstacles to ensuring a safe blood supply and safe blood transfusions. Many countries used and some of them still depend on replacement blood donors. Data published in this article had been collected from the CRTS of Rabat archives and reports. Data from all the 16 regional blood transfusion centres were collected from the report annually presented by the different regions. We found that during the 20 years period studied, the number of blood units collected by Rabat recorded many fluctuations. In the mean time, many measures were taken to promote the recruitment of voluntary blood donors. The proportion of these later jumped from 16·55% in 1988 to reach almost 80% in 2008. Beside, the whole country's blood collection map for the year 2008 showed that 190 504 of whole blood units were collected. This means that there are only six donations per 1000 people. This is the first study conducted in Morocco that provided detailed information on ongoing trends in blood donor profiles. The creation and development of new mobile drive units and maintaining them over time was the key to increase the collection of blood units from voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors.

Status report of the blood transfusion services in Myanmar

The Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) initiated blood donation activities in 1961, and since then, has been organizing regular blood donation activities. The MRCS supports the ‘national blood and blood product law’ (enacted in January 2003) to save patients lives through blood transfusion of quality assured blood and blood products and to prevent transfusion transmissible infections through the promotion of Voluntary Nonremunerated Blood Donation (VNRBD). Every day, millions of people in the country require blood transfusion. Most transfusions save lives, but there is always a risk of infection from contaminated blood. Safe blood may generally be described as having no trace of viruses, parasites, or other factors that may cause harm to the recipient. A system of regular blood donation from voluntary nonremunerated blood donors is widely recognized as a critical factor in quality blood service delivery. Blood collected from family or replacement donors, especially paid donors, is known to have a higher incidence and prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections. Blood collected from a voluntary system is safe, and less likely to contain HIV, Hepatitis B or C, or some other infections. A crucial element in ensuring safety is to know as much as possible about the source of donated blood. Voluntary nonremunerated blood donors who chip-in blood regularly are the low-risk donors because they are motivated solely by altruism and have no reason to conceal. This requires the establishment of an effective blood donor program for education, motivation, and recruitment of voluntary blood donors, assessing the suitability of donors, safe blood collection procedures, and high-quality donor care to promote donor retention. Union of Myanmar, with an area of 676.578 square kilometers, has a total population of 52.17 millions. The population density of the capital is 390/sq km, whereas that of China state is 10/sq km. There are 17 states/divisions, 65 districts, and 325 branches. There are 135 national groups of more than 100 languages. Seventy percent of population resides in rural areas and 30% in urban expanse.

Epidemiologic Programming to Prevent Transfusion-related HIV Infection

HIVinfection in Myanmar followed the pattern of starting in the higher-risk population followed by the general population. The development of blood transfusion safety system started in 1985. Universal blood transfusion screening of HIV was achieved in 1998, with the coverage up to township levels. Myanmar adheres to WHO/UNAIDS blood testing strategy. The Ministry of Health has adopted five strategies to ensure blood safety in the whole country. These include regular replenishments of HIV test kits, recruitment of voluntary blood donors, referral to major blood banks, timely reporting and research for best practice methods. The model of 'walking blood banks' is used for remote hospitals and rural settings. The marked improvement in expansion of blood safety programme is made possible by high political commitment and the dedicated participation by the community.