DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i01.057

Pages: 284-286

The increased demand of blood and its components makes it important for us to spread awareness of blood donation. We need to know the factors that may prompt a donor to donate blood or hinder him from doing so. 100 first time blood donors were given a questionnaire before and after blood donation. Their responses were noted and analyzed. More males donated blood (80) compared to females (20). The first time donors were mostly in the 21-30 years age group. The replacement (51) and voluntary (49) donors were almost equal in number. Lack of an opportunity to donate blood and lack of awareness about blood donation were the main factors that hindered blood donation. Hearing about blood donation from friends, media and blood donation camps were the source of information about blood donation. Most of the donors were motivated to donate blood. We need to focus on ways to increase our voluntary blood donor pool and also to retain them.