FEMALE BLOOD DONORS: ALLEVIATING THE RESISTANCE OF THE COMMUNITY

[BEST PRACTICE DOCUMENTATION UNIT OF KSACS]

FEMALE BLOOD DONORS: ALLEVIATING THE RESISTANCE OF THE COMMUNITY
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Soumya and her friends are happy today, because they have witnessed
the withdrawal of community notions on female blood donation. A huge
number of girls and women donated their blood voluntarily during a
blood donation camp conducted at Kannur District of Kerala organized
as part of the ‘World Blood Donors Day – 2010 by Kerala State AIDS
Control Society. ‘We were eager to donate blood, but our parents and
friends were always discouraging us with irrational reasons’ says
Ashily, the gang leader of girls who came from a professional college
to donate blood in the Mega voluntary blood donation camp. Out of the
412 voluntary blood donors who participated in the camp, 307 were
females below the age of 25. It set a record in Kerala, with the
highest number of female volunteers donating blood in a single camp
and hence hit headlines in Kerala.

Though studies show more women than men receive blood, female donation
in Kerala is comparatively very less. There are several myths and
misconceptions in the community on blood donation, particularly about
female blood donation. The community, chiefly parents and elders,
oppose the donation by a female donor with prejudiced and absurd
arguments like fear of future weakness, especially in reproductive
health, fear of possible anemia allied with menstruation and other
physiological aspects of women, etc. Interestingly, some patriarchal
communities believe that the quality of blood from the weaker sex is
not good enough for donation. The other common misconception among
laymen is that fresh whole blood is required for transfusion.

The camp extenuates such notions of the community by ensuring
increased participation through effective communication campaigns and
strategic interventions. ‘We were enlightened with the information
conveyed in the preparatory classes conducted in our College by Dr.
Suresh and Mr. Ganesh Pillai from KSACS’, Ms. Tintu, an 18 year old
Engineering student commented. ‘Almost all our friends who attended
the class were willing to donate blood for the noble cause of saving
lives, but several of them withdrew from donation due to the
opposition from their parents’, she regretfully continues.

The slogan of the World Blood Donors Day was “New Blood for the
World”. Hence we were trying to generate maximum participation of
youths, especially girls in the Day’s Observance and could pull off
maximum female bleeding in a day, the organizers of the campaign said.
‘For this we focused our preparatory communication interventions in
colleges, youth clubs, etc., as part of the campaign and we believe
these novices in blood donation in turn will network extensively to
encourage other youngsters to donate blood. It will certainly pave way
for the availability of safe blood in need from voluntary non-
remunerated regular blood donors’, they affirm.

Mr.K. Sudhakaran, the elected Member of Parliament from Kannur
constituency inaugurated the State Level Campaign by voluntarily
donating his blood publicly and it engendered positive spirit among
the organizers and participants of the programme. Inspiring from this,
almost all the dignitaries present in the inaugural meeting.

24 of such mega blood donation camps were conducted as part of the
Day’s Observance on 14th June at various locations across the State. A
total of 1410 volunteers donated their blood on the Day for showing
their moral obligation to the social cause. Dr. K. Shylaja, Project
Director of Kerala State AIDS Control Society was directly involved in
the process and led the campaign to a success. Hindustan Latex Family
Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT) provided all technical and
logistical support to the State Level campaign.