COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BLOOD DONATION PRACTICES AMONG STUDENTS AT NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY

There is a huge deficit in the proportion of voluntary non-remunerated blood donors (VNRD) in Nigeria as most of the donations are from paid donors. Young adults, most especially students from higher institutions, constitute the majority of blood donors worldwide. The aim of this study, therefore, is to determine the factors that are associated with blood donation between the students from the main campus and the college of medicine (COM) campus of a Nigerian University. This was a cross-sectional analytical study conducted among VNRD at the main and COM campuses of a Nigerian University. Pre-donation questionnaires were used to obtain data from the students. Data were analyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) IBM version 25. All tests were two-sided, and statistical significance was considered to be at a probability value of p<0.05. A total of 203 students showed up for VNRD on the two campuses on two separate days. About 59% were from the COM campus, and the mean age of the donors was 22.2 (2.4) years. There was no significant difference in the mean age, gender distribution, haemoglobin concentration, and eligibility to donate between the two groups of donors. Only two donors tested positive for HCV and HBV and both were from the COM. This study did not find any difference in the factors that influence the pattern of voluntary blood donation between two groups of university students who study medical-related courses and those that are not.