Blood Donation Practice And Associated Factors Among Health Professionals In Public Health Facilities Of Ambo Town, Central Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Millions of lives are lost each year due to a lack of blood and blood products for transfusions and most of them happen in developing countries. Because of the excessive demand for blood, there is a blood shortage that significantly increases morbidity and mortality. Regular and voluntary blood donation practices are required to address the rising demand for blood while maintaining an appropriate supply of blood. Objective: This study was aimed to assess blood donation practices and its associated factors among health professionals working in public health facilities of Ambo town, Oromia Regional state, central Ethiopia, 2022. Methods: Institutional-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 422 health professionals working in Ambo town health facilities from February 15 to 30, 2022. A simple random sampling method was used to select the study participants. The collected data were entered into Epidata Version 4.2 software and exported to SPSS version 25 for further analysis. Descriptive analysis was done. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was done to identify factors independently associated with practices of blood donation. Adjusted Odds Ratio with a 95% confidence interval was computed to measure the strength of association. The level of statistical significance was declared at a p-value < 0.05. Results: Total of 410 participants were included in the final analysis (response rate = 97.2%). Among these participants, 200(48.8%, 95% CI 44.0, 54.0) of them practiced blood donation. Being male [AOR=2.35, 95% CI:(1.46, 3.78)], work experience greater than five years [AOR=2.53, 95% CI: (1.04, 6.14)], presence of promotional activity [AOR=2.59, 95% CI: (1.64, 4.08)], good knowledge of blood donation [AOR=2.72, 95% CI: (1.65, 4.49)] and favorable attitude towards blood donation [AOR=1.64, 95% CI: (1.07, 2.53)] were significantly associated with blood donation practice of health professionals. Conclusions: In comparison to other research conducted in underdeveloped countries, health professionals' blood donation practices were low in this study. Being male, work experience more than 5 years, existence of promotional activities, good knowledge and favorable attitude toward blood donation of the health professional were all independently linked to blood donation practice. As a result, health professionals must be made more aware of the need of blood donation.