B. Jacobs et al., SECONDARY-SCHOOL STUDENTS - A SAFER BLOOD-DONOR POPULATION IN AN URBAN WITH HIGH HIV PREVALENCE IN EAST-AFRICA, East African medical journal, 71(11), 1994, pp. 720-723
We evaluated the enrolment of secondary school students as voluntary u
nremunerated blood donors in a city where the HIV-1 prevalence among t
he adult population is 11.8%, Between 1st July, 1992 and 1st December,
1993, consecutive blood donors were screened for anti-HIV-1, TPHA, HB
sAg and anti-HBc. Test results were related to age, sex, voluntary or
relative donor status, 525 (22.4%) of 2345 were voluntary donors aged
24 years or less and 529 (29.6%) of 1820 of the relative donors were o
f the same age group, Voluntary donors had statistically significant l
ower prevalence rates of anti-HIV-1, TPHA, and anti-HBc, 1.5%, 2.1% an
d 50.2% respectively, compared to relative donors of the same age grou
p, 4.7%, 9.0% and 70.3% respectively, We conclude that secondary schoo
l students constituted a safer donor population, The student populatio
n offered the additional advantage of being easily accessible for dona
tion and lesser blood units needed to be discarded, For a blood transf
usion centre in an urban settlement, recruitment of secondary school s
tudents as voluntary unremunerated blood donors should be considered a
s a cost-effective strategy.