1Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer, National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi
2Assistant Professor, Medical Sociology, Subharti Medical College, Meerut
3Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Kalpana Chawla Govt. Medical College, Karnal
4Manager, Monitoring & Evaluation, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), New Delhi
Online published on 24 April, 2013.
The ability to transfuse blood represents one of the great advances in modern medicine, which has made much of today's surgeries safer and possible. Voluntary blood donors are the safest and the ideal sources of good quality blood. Inspiration among and participation of the student community is essential to make the "voluntary blood donation" movement a success. The major part of demand for blood in India has been meeting through voluntary blood donations. The healthy, active and receptive huge student population is potential blood donors to meet safe blood requirements. Even though Indian law forbidden collection of blood from paid donors, many times health care facilities forced to accept blood from paid donors as there are scarcity of voluntary blood donors.
The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge and attitude about blood donation among the students.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 280 students from different streams in a University campus of Meerut, UP through a structured survey questionnaire in the year 2012.
The overall knowledge on blood donation was satisfactory, but majority (92.85%) of students never donated blood. ‘Feeling of medically unfit’ and ‘never thought of blood donation’ were the major reasons for not donating blood. Positive attitude was found among blood donors students.
This study elicits the importance of adopting effective measures in college campuses to motivate about voluntary blood donation among students.
Knowledge, Attitude, Blood Donation, Students
