The impact of COVID-19 on blood donations

Abstract

During a crisis, society calls for individuals to take prosocial actions that promote crisis management. Indeed, individuals show higher willingness to help after a disaster. However, the COVID-19 pandemic presents significant differences as it is an ongoing crisis that affects all individuals and has the potential to pose a direct health threat to anyone. Therefore, we propose that the pandemic may also negatively affect willingness to help, specifically blood donation intentions. It requires a high level of willingness to donate blood beyond the crisis outbreak, as more blood will be needed when postponed surgeries resume. When comparing blood donation intentions from a pre-pandemic study to results from a six-wave (bi-weekly) panel study conducted in Germany during the first pandemic phase (April to June 2020), we find lower medium and long-term blood donation intentions. While active donors show increased awareness of ability and eligibility to donate at the beginning of the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic, they feel significantly less able to donate as the pandemic progresses. Furthermore, inactive donors’ perceived ability to donate significantly decreases in the pandemic phase compared to the pre-pandemic phase. Crucially, both active and inactive donors feel less responsible and less morally obliged to donate, resulting in an overall negative pandemic effect on blood donation intentions. The COVID-19 pandemic compromises blood donations endangering the life-saving blood supply. These alarming results offer evidence-based grounds for practical implications for driving donations in the event of a pandemic.

Effectiveness of Ferritin-guided Donation Intervals in Blood Donors: Results of the Stepped-wedge Cluster Randomised FIND’EM Trial

“…Our finding that the new policy is associated with significantly lower odds for donor return supports previous findings on the effects of deferral on donor return, but may additionally be explained by the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on blood donation intentions (27–30). Return within six months for donors measured during both weeks at full implementation overlapped with lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic in The Netherlands.…”

Implementation of the blood donation preservation strategy at Indonesian red cross (IRC) blood donor unit (BDU) Banda Aceh during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The dominance of the male sex can donate blood compared to women due to the decrease in hemoglobin levels caused by menstruation every month, as well as the period of pregnancy and childbirth experienced women. 8 Table 1 shows the majority of donors are repeat donors with a percentage of 96.5% in 2019, 95.1% in 2020 and 82.5% in 2021. This is in accordance with research conducted by Kandasamy in India, where the majority of donors are repeat donors with a percentage of 54.7% (2018), 59.3% (2019), and 80.4% (2020).…”

“…So if the population in Indonesia is 247,837,073 people, then ideally, 0.025 x 247,837,073 = 4,956,741 blood bags are needed, especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic where the need for blood continues to increase but donors are still decreasing. 8 The lack of blood availability in Indonesia, among others, is constrained by the low awareness of the community to become voluntary donors, so that the availability of blood in BDU is still lacking. Most of the blood donations in Indonesia are seasonal, only done if there is a certain event.…”

A social capital approach of market orientation in public non‐profit organizations: The case of blood transfusion centers in Spain

“…As a result of an altruistic behavior donors have demonstrated a moral concern for the wellbeing of others, instead of theirs's own, which in turn has translated into a positive attitude toward helping others (Graça & Zwick, 2021). Additionally, it may be also possible that this return to normality could be a consequence of the greater emphasis on donor orientation of BTCS during the pandemic using information strategies, retention and recruitment strategies, spreading awareness on volunteer blood donation, as well as analyzing the motivations and barriers to donating blood (Bilancini et al, 2022;Kakaje et al, 2023;Tripathi et al, 2022;Veseli et al, 2022;Wang et al, 2021 donors in order to create marketing strategies that address their values and promote sustainable involvement, with an especial attention to philanthropy as an intrinsic motivation in young people attitudes and intent to donate (Gorczyca & Hartman, 2017;Graça & Zwick, 2021). Therefore, the importance of reinforcing donor orientation of BTCS (and the internal social capital mechanisms that support this orientation) seems evident in a world where blood donation need is increasingly higher.…”