"Pop-Up Blood Donation" as a novel channel for potential young blood donors in urban areas –results from three first implementations

While the number of blood donors is decreasing, the average age of donors is increasing. Blood donors in our organization tend to live more in rural areas and have an average age above 45 years. Hence, given the demographic development, it is mandatory to develop new channels to attract younger blood donors and with a focus in urban areas. We opened three "Pop-Up Blood Donation" (PUBD)-sites in shopping malls to encourage spontaneous blood donation of a rather young and urban population.

We gathered data from the three PUBD-sites since their individual opening on a daily basis. Data collected included age, sex, first-time vs. repeat donor, time since last donation (if applicable), distance residential to PUBD-adress, percentage of non-eligibility, etc. Data from the three PUBD-sites were compared to data from two permanent donation sites and two mobile donation opportunities in the past 365 days ("other sites"). Due to the short period of follow-up, solid conclusions regarding e.g. adherence of blood donors in the three PUBD-sites cannot be drawn at this moment. In the future, it is planned to apply artificial intelligence to predict e.g. adherence of blood donors acquired through the various blood donation channels.

The PUBD-sites were opened in Dortmund (15.09.2023), Düsseldorf (01.11.2023) and Leverkusen (06.12.2023). The first-time donation rate is 33.0% in the PUBD compared to 5.2% in the other sites. The average age is 40.1 years in the PUBD compared to 50.5 years in the other sites. The PUBD-sites show a high "reactiviation rate" (20.8% vs. 10.5% in other sites), i.e. donors who had donated earlier in the past, but not during the past two years and donated now again. The distance of residence to donation site is higher in PUBD (median 7km) than in other donation sites (median 3km), since normally donors tend to donate in the vicinity of their residence. The rate of non-eligibility, however, is higher in the PUBD-sites (21.0% vs. 8.2%).

"Pop-Up Blood Donation" (PUBD)-sites in city shopping malls may help to attract younger potential blood donors in urban areas who have never donated blood before. The hurdle to donate blood is lowered by enabling blood donation in a shopping mall and on a spontaneous basis. It is, however, to early to evaluate how many of these young first-time donors will turn into regular donors. PUBD-sites in shopping malls could help to activate a blood donor population not well accessed so far.

There are no conflict of interests.