Family responsibilities and commitments: a difficult balance to manage for Italian women, especially for those over 30, that in Italy find little time to donate. This evidence emerges from “Globuli Rosa”, a survey commissioned by the Italian National Blood Centre (CNS). Globuli Rosa is part of the “Dona vita, dona sangue” campaign, a communication action promoted by the Italian Ministry of Health in collaboration with the CNS and the main donor associations ( AVIS, Italian Red Cross, FIDAS, FRATRES and DonatoriNati), to investigate why Italian women donate less blood and blood components than women from other European countries. This initiative, which in addition to the survey, has also promoted campaign to raise awareness, aims to identify the barriers that prevent women from donating blood and develop solutions so that donation can become a common practice.

The initiative
The qualitative investigation, which took place between May and July 2024, was conducted through two methods, namely the implementation by Doxa of two focus groups formed by non-donor women and former-donor women (split into two subgroups according by demographics: 30-45 years old and 46-55 years old), and a web survey on the donailsangue.salute.gov.it website, which has gathered the opinions and personal experiences of 3.947 women over 30 With the aim of establishing a direct dialogue and an active listening to the interviewees and understanding in more detail the profound reasons behind the choice to not donate.

Focus groups
The focus groups highlight how, although blood donation is perceived positively as an altruistic and generous gesture, this practice does not find particular space in the routine of women over 30. Being at the centre of family dynamics and often responsible for domestic care of children and of the elderly, the interviewed indicate among the main reasons for not donating blood, the multitude of commitments and responsibilities and the resulting lack of time. Feeling overloaded with “duties”, women struggle to consider the act of donation as a priority.

In fact, within this context, donating blood is perceived as a complicated gesture on multiple levels, the process is not particularly clear and cannot find, as the report says, space in the “heart” – since the emotional commitment is already destined for the family -, in the “mind” -, creating further disorder and fatigue -, and in “life”, being difficult to place it among the various commitments.

Added to this factor is the lack of support which makes the woman feel socially alone: a condition which appears profoundly different compared to other European realities. In fact, precarious work without an adequate welfare system forces women to avoid further absences, preferring to use leave and holidays for family and personal needs, rather than for socially relevant initiatives.

Survey
Lack of time is a “leitmotif” that also emerges in the second qualitative investigation, the online survey. This, thanks to the numerous testimonies (1446 donors, 1615 non-donors and 886 former donors), highlights, in addition to the lack of time, which also in this case ranks first as the main brake on non-donation (36.8%), other issues such as pregnancy and breastfeeding, identified as two moments that lead to interrupting blood donations and resuming them with difficulty at a later time (18.5%). Furthermore, health problems, real or perceived, are frequently cited as reasons that significantly hinder this practice (14.5%): women in Italy often think they do not have the requirements to donate, even if, within the Europeans stand out for the excellent level of health. The lack of information (13.6%) in this sense can contribute to ensuring that erroneous beliefs and prejudices hinder the drive to donate.

Dona vita, dona sangue campaign
Last 11 June the Ministry of Health – in collaboration with the CNS and the main donor associations (AVIS, Italian Red Cross, FIDAS, FRATRES and DonatoriNati) – launched for the second year “Dona vita, dona sangue”, a communication campaign aimed at promoting the culture of blood and plasma donation. The campaign, which featured the actress Carolina Crescentini and the former rugby star and television host Martín Castrogiovanni as testimonials, had its first important result in 2023, when no blood shortages were recorded for the entire summer period.

Blood and plasma donation
Blood and plasma donation is open to all citizens who have a valid identity document.

Physical requirements
To donate blood you need:

  • to be 18 to 65 years old (60 years old max for the first donation. Periodic donors can donate till 70 years old, with the prior consent of a doctor)
  • to have a body weight of at least 50 kilograms
  • to be in good health

For info and to find the collection unit nearer to you click on
donailsangue.salute.gov.it