Enhancing Blood Donation at Schools and Beyond in Malawi

Recognizing the role of youth in blood donation, Zimbabwe, a country with similar demographics to Malawi, developed "Club 25" in 1989 as a means to encourage regular blood donation among the youth. Club 25 donation programs involved students pledging to donate blood 25 times in their lifetime. In order to achieve this objective, students pledged to lead a healthy lifestyle, to avoid acquiring HIV and other TTIs and to continue donating blood after leaving school. Club 25 in Zimbabwe demonstrated a consistent drop in HIV infection among donors over time and managed to minimize blood shortages during school holidays.

This is a hybrid Type I implementation science cluster randomized clinical trial comparing an enhanced Malawian-tailored school-based Club 25 donation program to the current standard procedures (SP) for student blood donor recruitment in 30 secondary schools in Malawi. This study will be conducted for 3 years, with additional 6 months start-up and 6-month data analysis/write up (total activity period will be 4 years). The total sample size is 11,492 per year. A minimum of 5746 student voluntary non-numerated blood donors (VNRBD) from each arm (15 schools with standard procedures for blood donor recruitment (SP) and 15 Club 25 schools) will be recruited annually. Focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and key informant interviews will be conducted with a minimum of 400 participants including student VNRBDs, key informants, and community stakeholders. Schools will be stratified by Malawi Blood Transfusion Service regional office sites (South, East, Centre, North).