DETERMINANTS OF BLOOD DONATION AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

Background: Worldwide the need for blood is high as every second a given person is in need for blood due to severe anemia, trauma or complications of pregnancy and millions of patients requiring safe blood do not get/access it in time (WHO, 2008). General objective: To identify the determinants of blood donation among University students of Makerere and Uganda Christian University. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out with qualitative and quantitative approaches of data collection, a multistage sampling method was used to obtained faculties/colleges and students for the study. A semi-structured questionnaire-guide and FGDguide were designed and used to obtain data. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed by use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 and thematic content analysis respectively. Results: Students who ever donated blood were 128(36.4%), 224(63.6%) had never donated blood, 78(60.9%) students continued with blood donation and 173(77.2%) students were willing to donate in the future The common reason for not donating blood among students of UCU was having inadequate blood 30(25.9%) and 18(16.7%) of Makerere University students were not interested in blood donation. At multivariate analysis gender (P-Values: 0.05; OR: 1.7 CI:1.25-2.09), age, (PValues: 0.007; OR: 2.40 CI: 2.37-3.01), community awareness; (P-Values: 0.003; OR:1.39, CI:1.35-1.82), waiting time at the donation site (P-Values: 0.008; OR: 2.96 CI: 2.90-3.16), attitude of health workers (P-Values: 0.004; OR: 3.0 CI:2.96 – 3.81), community mobilization (P-Values: 0.007, OR: 2.67 CI:2.57-3.69), fear for fainting (P-Values: 0.010; OR: 3.99, CI: 3.944.96), body weight(P-Values: 0.001; OR: 2.98, CI: 2.96-3.90), fear for losing blood(P-Values: 0.003; OR: 3.01, CI:2.12-3.27) and fear for infections (P-Values: 0.025; OR: 3.48, CI:2.95-3.71) were statistically significant factors influencing blood donation among students in the two universities. Conclusion: Blood donation among students in UCU and Makerere was low; however, willingness to donate was high. Age, gender, community awareness, waiting time at the donation site, the attitude of health workers, community mobilization, fear for fainting, body weight, fear for losing blood and fear for infections influenced blood donation among university students. Recommendations: The management of Uganda Blood Transfusion Services should intensify community awareness within the Universities in regard to blood donation through putting up billboards and posters on blood donation, UBTS to facilitate and promote Health education on blood donation and feeding practices especially among female students plus emphasizing blood donation as Social responsibility for all. Furthermore, there is a need to increase the number of mobile blood donation outreaches in institutions.