Abstract

 Background and Objectives

 Transfusion transmitted HIV is an important issue in every transfusion center. Despite recent improvements in laboratory screening techniques and formulation of rigid standards for blood safety, the risk of HIVcontaminated blood products remains as a potential problem. This study was conducted to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding blood donation among voluntary blood donors about HIV/AIDS.

 Materials and Methods

 This is a cross-sectional study in which data were collected through questionnaires.We studied knowledge, attitude and behavior of 440 voluntary blood donors about HIV/AIDS in Sistan and Balouchestan province. Voluntary blood donors' knowledge and attitude were evaluated and their correlation with different variables were compared. The data were analyzed with Chi-Square, ANOVA, Kruscal Wallis and Spearmans rho using SPSS 14.

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 Results

 Our results showed that the knowledge levels of 55% of voluntary blood donors about HIV/AIDS were good, 29.5% intermediate, and 15.5% poor. Seventy point one percent of population in the study had positive attitude,56.9% had neutral attitude and 25.9% negative attitude about HIV/AIDS. The correlation between sex, marriage status, educational status, job, type of donation ( voluntary or familial),times of donation ( first, repeated and regular repeated) with knowledge and attitude was statistically significant.

 Conclusions

 Relatively high level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS especially in regular repeated donors can be due to acquired information during consultation sessions. Therefore, repeated and regular repeated donors can help improve the blood safety.These findings also highlight the importance of more accurate consultation and the provision of necessary training on HIV/AIDS to voluntary blood donors.

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 Key words : Knowledge, Attitude, HIV, Blood donors