WHO CAN DONATE BLOOD

You may become a blood donor if you:

• Are 17 to 60 years old
• Weigh atleast 45kg
• Have heamoglobin level of atleast 12.5g/dl
• Are in good health
• Do not have any symptoms of infection within the last week, eg sore throat, cough, runny nose, diarrhoea, sore eyes
• Do not have fever in the last 3 weeks
• Do not have dental works within the last 24 hours
 

WHO SHOULD NOT DONATE BLOOD

As a blood donor, you would want to make sure that you are giving good and healthy blood. There are times when your blood may not be suitable for donation. Often you may feel quet well even though your blood may be carrying certain viruses or infectious agents. However, your blood may transmit these infections to people who receiveit and harm them.

Before you give blood you will be asked a number of questions regarding your health, travel and social history. This is necessary to ensure that you are well enough to donate and that you are not at risk of any infectious disease that may harm the receipient of your blood donation. The national blood service relies on you to be truthful that your blood is safe to be used for transfusions.

If you answer YES to any of the issues below, you are not suitable to donate blood.

• Persons infected with Hepatitis B & C
• Been infected with HIV or are at risk of getting HIV (e.g. had sexual contact with a HIV – positive person, have multiple sexual partners or patronised sexual workers)
• Previous history of drug abuse (either oral or intraveneous)
• Previous or current history of cancer
• Chronic illnesses requiring medications such as hypertension, heart, lungs, kidney disease, diabetes, epillepcy,etc
• Expectant and breastfeeding women
• Women in during menstruation especially those with heavy flow or menstrual cramps

Should you have any concerns regarding any of the above matters during the mobile blood donation sessions, feel free to talk to the field staff who will direct you to the medical person to help you.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BLOOD DONATION

It takes less than an hour to complete a blood donation. Blood donors can give up to 4 to 3 whole blood donation in ayear at 12 weeks and 16 week intervals depending on the gender of the blood donor.

We recommend taking the following steps to help ensure the best experience on your donation.

Pre – donation advice

• Have a good night’s rest before your blood odnation
• Have something light to eat and drink at least 2 hours before blood donation
• Drink extra fluids the day before and on the day of donation
• Increase the in take of what ever iron – rich food available such as beans, red meat, dark green vegetables, iron – fortified cereals 2 weeks before blood donation.

 Day of donation advice

• Avoid fatty foods as lipids (fatty materials) that appear in your blood several hours after eating can affect the tests carried out on your blood you have donated.
• Wear short sleeves or loose fitting sleeves so as not to cause constriction to arm when sleeve is rolled up
• Let the nurse know if you are feeling anxious so that we can help you feel at ease
• Relax during donation
 

Post – donation advice

• Rest at least 5 to 10 minutes after removal of the needle
• Take time to enjoy a snack and drink at the refreshment area
• If you feel light headed, lie down, preferable with feet elevated, until the feeling passes. Notify someone for help
• Drink plenty of fluids over the next 24 hours to re-hydrate yourself
• Limit the use of arm from which blood is collected for the first 15 minutes after giving blood to minimize the chance of bruising
• Avoid streneous physical activity or lifting heavy items for the next 6 hours
• Remove the bandage after 3 – 4 hours and if bleeding occurs, apply pressure to the site and raise your arm for 3 – 5 minutes
• If bleeding or bruising occurs under the skin, apply a cold pack to the area periodically during the first 24 hours
• If for any reasons some thing does not feel right, please can the blood bank using the telephone line of the region notted on your card and talk to a medical person

It is important that you continue to eat iron rich meals this is because insuficient iron blood will result in iron deficiency thay may become a possible defferal to donate blood on your next visit.

BLOOD DONATION PROCESS

• Form filling and Registration (5mins)

You are required to complete a health assessment questionaire on the day of donation. This should be done in private since it’s a personal statement of your medical and social history. Provide your local address as well during registration.

• Medical screening (15 mins)

Amedical personnel will go through the health assessment questionnair with you in detail. You will need to sign a declaration to confirm that the information given is true. A minor physical examination which includes the measurement of your weigh, blood pressure, pulse and temperature will be conducted.

Your Haemoglobin level will be checked to make sure that you can give blood.

• The blood donation (20 mins)

A specially trained nurse will attend to you. A local pain killer is applied before the insertion of the donation needle. You will be made as comfortable as possible, ussually in a special chair or in abed. The area inside your elbow will be cleaned with an antiseptic solution before atrained nurse inserts a sterile needle, connected to a special blood bag, into your vein. A total of 450mls, of your blood is taken.

• Rest after donation and refreshment (15 mins)

Light refreshment will be served after the donation. You should take your time and atleast rest another 10 minutes and make sure you are feeling well before leaving.

• What tests are performed on donated blood before transfusion?

Donated blood as a must is normally tested for the following infections that can be transmitted through blood transfusion. These include:

ü  HIV

ü  Hepatitis B and C

ü  Syphilis

In addition a blood donor’s blood group will also be tested.

• Test results:

The test results under normal circumstances are ready within two weeks. All donors are encouraged to receive their result from professionaly trained counselor who visits the same site where donors will ahave donated from to give back the results.

All willing blood donors can walk to any of the Regional Blood Transfusion Centrers located in the various districts of Uganda like Nakasero Blood Bank in Kampala, Mbale Blood Bank, Mbarara, Gulu, etc