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Effect of Blood Donor Recruitment Programmes on Voluntary Blood Donation in Nigeria

Abstract

Adequate availability of safe blood is essential for effective healthcare delivery and is particularly important for managing obstetric emergencies, severe anaemia, trauma, surgical procedures, childhood illnesses, and other conditions requiring blood transfusion. Despite the need for a stable blood supply, Nigeria continues to face challenges in recruiting and retaining voluntary blood donors. Dependence on replacement and family-directed donations, limited public awareness, misconceptions about blood donation, fear of adverse effects, inadequate donor motivation, and insufficient access to convenient donation centres may contribute to shortages in the voluntary blood supply. Blood donor recruitment programmes provide organized strategies for increasing voluntary blood donation through public education, community mobilization, donor awareness campaigns, recruitment drives, reminders, recognition initiatives, and improved access to blood donation services. Effective implementation of such programmes may increase the number of individuals who voluntarily donate blood and strengthen the availability of safe blood for patients. Against this background, this study investigates the effect of blood donor recruitment programmes on voluntary blood donation in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on the Health Belief Model, Social Marketing Theory, and the Theory of Planned Behavior. The Health Belief Model explains how individuals' perceptions of susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and cues to action may influence their willingness to donate blood. Social Marketing Theory emphasizes the use of audience-focused communication, appropriate messaging, accessibility, and motivation to encourage socially beneficial health behaviours such as voluntary blood donation. The Theory of Planned Behavior explains how attitudes toward blood donation, perceived social expectations, and perceived behavioural control influence individuals' intentions and actual donation behaviour. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how blood donor recruitment programmes may influence voluntary blood donation in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise eligible adults in selected communities, universities, workplaces, religious organizations, and other settings targeted by blood donor recruitment programmes, as well as registered blood donors. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select states, local government areas, communities, institutions, organizations, recruitment sites, and eligible participants. Blood donor recruitment programmes will be assessed using indicators such as frequency of recruitment campaigns, blood donation education, community mobilization, recruitment drives, donor reminders, social and digital media campaigns, donor recognition and retention activities, accessibility of donation centres, availability of mobile blood donation services, trained recruitment personnel, and follow-up mechanisms. Voluntary blood donation will be assessed using indicators such as voluntary donor registration, first-time voluntary donation, repeat voluntary donation, frequency of donation, number of voluntary donors recruited, donor retention, intention to donate voluntarily, completion of scheduled donations, and proportion of blood donations obtained voluntarily rather than through replacement or family-directed donation. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, donor recruitment records, blood bank registers, donor databases, programme reports, attendance records, and blood donation records. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize participants' demographic characteristics, recruitment-programme exposure, blood donation knowledge, attitudes, and donation patterns. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analysis, and logistic or multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the effect of blood donor recruitment programmes on voluntary blood donation. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, voluntary donation rates before and after implementation of recruitment programmes may be compared. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that effective blood donor recruitment programmes have a significant positive effect on voluntary blood donation in Nigeria. Individuals exposed to structured donor recruitment activities are expected to demonstrate greater knowledge of blood donation, more positive attitudes toward voluntary donation, higher willingness to donate, and higher rates of actual voluntary blood donation compared with individuals with limited exposure to recruitment activities. Community education, targeted recruitment drives, convenient donation opportunities, reminders, and donor recognition may reduce misconceptions and perceived barriers while encouraging both first-time and repeat voluntary donation. Sustained recruitment and retention activities may also improve the stability of the voluntary blood donor pool. However, fear of needles, misconceptions about blood donation, concerns about weakness or health effects, lack of awareness, inconvenient donation locations, inadequate donor recognition, and weak follow-up systems may limit programme effectiveness. The study therefore expects well-designed, accessible, community-oriented, and sustained blood donor recruitment programmes to contribute significantly to increasing voluntary blood donation in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on blood donor recruitment, voluntary blood donation, blood transfusion services, donor retention, health promotion, community mobilization, public health, and healthcare resource availability in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, National Blood Service Commission, state blood transfusion services, hospitals, blood banks, healthcare workers, community organizations, educational institutions, religious organizations, employers, development partners, and policymakers regarding strategies for strengthening voluntary blood donation. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for expanding community-based donor recruitment programmes, improving public education, strengthening donor reminder and retention systems, increasing access to convenient donation centres and mobile blood drives, improving donor recognition strategies, addressing misconceptions about blood donation, and developing sustainable recruitment programmes to increase the availability of voluntary blood donations across Nigeria.

Keywords: Blood donor recruitment programmes, voluntary blood donation, blood donors, blood transfusion services, donor recruitment, donor retention, blood supply, health promotion, community mobilization, Nigeria, public health.