Abstract :
Blood transfusion centers are saddled with the main responsibility of educating
and encouraging people to willingly donate to save life. Despite the percentage of women in all
communities being almost equal to that of the men, the women to men ratio for blood donation
seems to be quite minimal. The aim of this study is to determine the gender distribution of blood
donors and its recipient in Rasheed Shekoni Specialist Hospital Dutse, Jigawa State of Nigeria.
The study was carried out in Rasheed Shekoni Specialist Hospital (RSSH), a tertiary health
facility in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital in North Western Nigeria. This retrospective study
includes the total of 10,799 blood donors and 10,105 blood recipients from January, 2014 to
June, 2018. Data of blood donors and recipients were retrieved from the donors and recipient’s
register, collated and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS).
The result shows that of the 10,799 blood donors, 10,764 (99.7%) were males while 35 donors
(0.3%) were females. Out of the total number of 10,105 blood recipients, 4,451 (44%) were
males while 5,654 (56%) were females. The study concludes that male blood donors far
dominate the female donors, hence there is need to educate the female population on the
importance of blood donation and to correct negative misconceptions against female gender
blood donation and unnecessary discrimination to meet up with the huge demand for blood.
Keyword :
Gender, blood donors, blood recipients, Jigawa, Nigeria.