Blood Donation in a Tertiary Health Centre in Nigeria: The Scarcity of Voluntary Non-Remunerated Blood Donors

Abstract

Background: Blood is life, and hence the infinite place it occupies in medical practice aim at reducing morbidity and mortality. As the most donated tissue over the centuries, it can only be derived from an ideal living being, like humans, for humans. Aims: This study was aimed at assessing the most adjudge group of blood donors, voluntary non-remunerated blood donors, from whom blood can be obtained with guaranteed safety for the  donor and to the recipient in the Jos University Teaching Hospital in the North-central zone of Nigeria. Study Design: This study was a cross-sectional retrospective study. Place and Duration of Study: Jos University Teaching Hospital Blood Bank between 1st July, 2024 and 30th June, 2025. Methodology: Blood donor records of the Jos University Teaching Hospital Blood Bank were used, taking into account family replacement donors, Hospital walk-in non-remunerated blood donors, Hospital external blood drives, and National Blood Service Agency-Hospital linkage supplies. Results: Six thousand, one hundred and twenty-three units of blood were collected in the Jos University Teaching Hospital Blood Bank between July 2024 and June 2025. Family replacement donors accounted for 4,462 units, equivalent to 72.9% of the units collected, while there were only 91(1.5%) units from walk in voluntary non-remunerated blood donors in the hospital. Other units collected were from Hospital external blood donor drives and the North Central Zonal National Blood Service Agency-Hospital linkage. Conclusion: Voluntary non-remunerated blood donors are adjudged to be the best form of blood donation, with minimal risk for transfusion transmissible infections account for an abysmal percentage of blood units collected within the period of this study. This finding indicated a need for more public awareness aim at increasing this form of blood donation for a better output from blood donor collections.