Voluntary blood donor retention in jos, new transfusion transmissible infections: the implications for a resource dependent setting

Introduction: Blood donors are generally scarce and few in most developing countries, Nigeria inclusive. The retention of available safe blood donors, a pool of reliable committed blood givers, may reduce protracted acute blood shortage. Aims: This study sought to determine the donor retention rate, new TTIs rate and make recommendations that suit our setting. Methods: This retrospective study was carried out at the North Central Zonal Centre of the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS), Jos. All blood donors who donated at the NBTS centre between January 2009 and December 2013 were analyzed and categorized into first time and retained donors. Retained donors were further grouped according to their number of donations and rate of TTIs. Results: Thirty thousand two hundred and sixty four people, mean age 24.6 years; 70.5% males and 29.5% females donated blood within the study period. The crude TTIs rate of all blood donors 18.5% and 9.1% among committed donors. Repeat blood donors were 11,198 (37.0%), consisting of 90.5% regular and 9.5% lapsed. 97.8%, and 2.2% retained donors donated 2-15 and above 15 times with the crude TTIs rates of 9.1%, and 0.0% respectively. Conclusion: Blood donor retention could be successful in a resource poor setting with the advantage of decreasing TTIs rate associated with increasing number of donations. We further conclude that the retention of donors could enhance efficient utilization of donor funds.