Assessment of the knowledge, attitude and practice of voluntary non-remunerated blood donation among residents of Ekpoma, a peri-urban community in Edo State

Background: The importance of use of blood and blood products in medical practice cannot be over emphasized. Voluntary non remunerated blood donation forms the basis for ensuring regular availability of safe blood during blood donation and transfusion. However, volunteer blood donors account for less than one-half of blood supply in developing countries.Methodology: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of voluntary blood donation by residents of a peri-urban community. A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out using a pre-tested semi-structured selfadministered questionnaire among 422 respondents using the multistage sampling technique. The target population were residents of Ekpoma comprising the general public – workers, students of senior secondary schools and tertiary institutions. Variables were entered and analyzed using SPSS software package. The association between participants level of education and other socio-demographic factors was tested using chi square were appropriate.Results: The study involved 422 participants, majority of which were males (58.1%). A large proportion of them were between ages 16 and 26. The overall knowledge on blood donation was good, attitude towards voluntary donation was fair conversely practice was poor as 91.5% of respondents had never donated blood. A significant association was observed between sex and blood donation as only 2% of females have been donors. The commonest reason for not donating blood was fear to damage of health as reported in 40.7% of the participants.Conclusion: This study elicits the importance of adopting effective measures in our communities to motivate voluntary blood donation as majority of the participant express willingness in donating blood in the future. Health awareness campaign and motivational programmes should be organized regularly to arouse the interest of the general public in voluntary blood donation exercises.Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, practice, non-remunerated blood donation, Ekpom