Assessment of donor deferral rates and deferral reasons at the Namibia blood transfusion services

Aims: Despite the need to recruit and retain more blood donors, some are deferred from donating to ensure their safety and that of recipients is maintained. Examination of donor deferrals provides insights into how donor procurement strategies can be improved. Provision of safe and adequate supply of blood products is a major public health issue globally. As a result provision of safe blood should be ensured through proper donation procedures and safe transfusion. To assess the donor deferral rates and reasons for deferral among donors at Namibia blood transfusion services (NAMBTS) from 01st April 2012 to 31st March 2015. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted by reviewing the deferred donor records from 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2015. Results: Out of 50,074 prospective donors, 4302 (8.6%) donors were deferred. The deferral rates for females and males were 74.0% and 26.0%, respectively. Of the deferred donors 80.8% were new donors and 19.2% were repeat donors. Common deferral reasons included low hemoglobin levels (45.0%), pregnancy and breast feeding (13.7%) and being on medication (13.6%). Being on medication accounted for high deferral rate (24.0%) among male donors while in female donors, low hemoglobin levels caused high (53.0%) deferral rate. Conclusion: The deferral of donors has a negative impact on donor retention as deferred donors are less likely to return. Studying the profile of differed donors revealed that anemia is a major contributing factor and this is more pronounced in females. It may be pertinent to address the issue of anemia by educating the donor population on ways to enhance erythropoietic activity.