title: Partnerships for organizing blood donation camp: An experience from rural North India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rural areas pose challenges for motivating villagers to donate blood. We organized a blood donation camp in a rural setting by engaging multiple stakeholders. We examined the factors that influenced blood donation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Local level stakeholders were involved in planning of the camp. Mobilization of donors was attempted through intensive awareness generation activities utilizing multiple channels. A list of willing blood donors was prepared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 152 willing donors, 88 reported to donation camp, and after screening, 67 donated the blood. Most of the willing donors were males (89.8%), and the mean standard deviation age was 31.9 (9.4) years. Deferral rate was 23.8%. Involvement of local stakeholders can result in creating a pool of donors in rural area which can mitigate the existing gap between demand and supply of blood in India.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Shashi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kant
authors.affiliation: Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Sumit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malhotra
authors.affiliation: Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Farhad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ahamed
authors.affiliation: Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Archana
authors.affiliation: Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Chandrakant S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Pandav
keywords: Blood donation; partnerships; rural North India