ALBERT

Description: Introduction: Blood donor recruitment and retention in the younger generation is an important concern in several countries with an aging population. In Japan, which is going to have an aging population, the number of blood donors has decreased by 15% over the past decade. As such, drastic measures must be taken to maintain the necessary blood stocks. The promotion of blood donation in high schools has been attempted in many countries. This strategy is particularly attractive because successful recruitment of young donors will ensure long term supplies of blood are maintained. To enhance the effectiveness of this approach it is important to communicate the need for blood donation by high school students and conduct appropriate surveys. Although there have been several reports on the promotion of blood donation by young people, these have not generally analyzed their psychology, personal environment and the views of large numbers of high school students. Materials and Methods: The study was accepted with each high school staff meeting and IRB in our university (#25-159). Inquiry anonymous surveys were designed for high school students, who answered by their own volition. The survey included 50 questions as follows; gender; age; build; previous blood donation by the individual as well as family members and friends; lifestyle; diet; views concerning blood demand in society; location of blood donation centers; knowledge of blood donation methods; blood recovery after donation; reasons for declining to give blood; ideas for an effective campaign to recruit blood donors; previous education on blood donation in their school etc. Individual views concerning an effective campaign to recruit new donors, events, characters and media were given in a free style. This work was supported by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (H25-medicine-general-022). Results:We obtained answers from 94% of students surveyed (16,333). The first and second studies were done in 2013 and 2014, and included 8,456 and 7,877 students, respectively. In the first study, the male/female ratio was 0.88. 1% and 26% of student body weights were