Background: Blood saves lives only when
the blood itself is safe. The safety of blood
depends on the quality of its donor and these
donors can be categorized into commercial,
replacement and voluntary blood donors.
Aim and Objective: The aim of this study
was to determine the socio-demographic
factors and categories of blood donors in
Warri, Southern Nigeria.
Materials and Methods:A Semi-structured
self-administered questionnaire was used to
collect all necessary information from blood
donors.
Results: A total of 500 blood donors were
surveyed .The mean age was 26.4years, 97.0
% were males, 49.6% had tertiary education,
most of the donors were students (42.6%), and
only 0.8% of the donors came from the high
socio-economic group. Four hundred and
eleven (82.2%) were single and 86.2% were
christians. In terms of c a te g or y,
449/500(89.8%) were commercial donors,
25/500(5.0%) replacement donors while
41/500(8.2%) were voluntary donors.
Conclusion: People from low socioeconomic
class donate blood far more than the
upper class and most blood donations are
usually from commercial donors. Poverty
alleviation in terms of job creation by the
Government will go a long way to correct this
trend. The National Blood Transfusion
Service and all stakeholders in transfusion
. service should increase awareness campaigns
towards voluntary non-remunerative blood
donation.