The Hindu Business Line : Rural people make compliant donors of blood: Survey

PEOPLE in rural communities are more likely to donate blood than those in city centres because there is much stronger sense of a community in villages.

According to findings of a research conducted by surgical major Terumo Penpol and the All Kerala Blood Donors' Society (KEBS), knowing the communities will help in the designing and targeting of educative campaigns.

There has to be a fair idea about the local demographics, the work and leisure habits, the heroes and the epidemiology of the local population.

"In our experience, there is no such thing as a typical donor. Some groups of people are more likely to donate than others. Finding the triggers for donation is also important. Our research shows consistently that family tradition or someone else needing blood is a strong influencing factor," sources said.

Donating blood to a friend, colleague, or a member of the family, as a guide and supporter, will help get over initial anxiety.

Performing the act at the workplace, college or a university is also frequently mentioned as a trigger. It is also true that targeting young people is more effective, not just because they are safer but because they have not yet built up "some of the prejudices of the older people". It is easier to recruit women more than men, as per the findings.

The State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) has a major role to promote voluntary blood donation. It is widely accepted that the recruitment and retention of voluntary donors is the key to a safe and sufficient blood supply.

All over the world, the goal is a panel or register of reliable repeat donors, who are informed, committed and regularly screened for markers of transfusion-transmitted diseases.

Careful planning is critical to any donor programme. Ideally, the overall donor strategy and quality standards should be set at the national level. This provides direction and support for those who run donor recruitment and blood collection local programmes. Recruitment and blood collection are best managed locally with planning and targets, based on local knowledge and local hospital needs.

There should be very close cooperation between those who recruit donors and those who collect blood.

A steady intake should be planned to avoid both a "feast" as well as "famine" situations. It is a two-way framework, with the local, practical, operational experience influencing the overall standards.

Sharing a strategy with other blood centres makes it easier and more cost effective to build up public awareness and effective recruitment and retention of volunteers.

Duplication of effort can be avoided by sharing expenses and expertise, for instance in the production of promotional and educational material.