Knowledge, attitude, and practice towards blood donation among residential students and teachers of religious institutions in Bangladesh – A cross-sectional study

The availability of voluntary nonremunerated blood donors is a major concern in low- and middle-income countries because there is a substantial scarcity of safe blood supply against the expected demand. This study explores the status of knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding blood donation among students and teachers of residential religious academic institutions in Jamalpur district in Bangladesh. Religious institutions were selected through simple random sampling, and the cross-sectional survey included 512 participants. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed with statistical significance defined as p < 0.05. Over 90% of the participants were students, non-smokers, and aged 18-30 years. The majority (92%) did not ever donate blood to anyone, yet over 42% wanted to be regular donors. More than 80% considered blood donation a moral responsibility and an Islamic act. The common reasons for not donating blood were lack of knowledge (40%), lack of opportunity (20%), thinking it was harmful to health (21%), fearing needles (16%), and no financial benefit (6%). Interestingly, more than 67% did not know their blood group, and about 61% of the respondents said they did not hear of or could not remember any blood donation program. The participants had poor knowledge of general eligibility criteria but an overall positive attitude towards blood donation. There was a weak positive correlation between knowledge, attitude, and practice scores. Participants willing to donate blood to strangers were four times more likely to do so regularly. Those who considered blood donation a religious act and a moral responsibility were twice as likely to become regular blood donors. This study reveals that many potential donors are being neglected, although they may be a valuable resource in addressing the ongoing blood donation issue.