Blood is the most important body fluid in the body of any living organism. It is this important body fluid which delivers all the necessary and essential nutrients and substances to all the other parts of the human body. This is the basic reason why blood donation assumes an important requirement of life.
Especially such blood donation requirements for females become furthermore important and critical given its health benefits. Blood is the medium of transporting oxygen and other nutrients to the cells of the body and carrying back the metabolic wastes so as to remove the wastes through the waste excretion mechanism.
Many a times, there are situations when there is an urgent requirement of additional supply of this essential body fluid either due to a medical condition such as blood transfusion due to ailments such as blood cancer or other such grave medical issues; or due to emergency situation such as excessive blood loss during any surgery or an accident leading to blood loss. Usually, this additional blood supply is fulfilled by getting the blood supply from a blood bank or the blood is donated by some family member or acquaintance. The excessive outflow of this essential body fluid can cause an imbalance in the body which would affect the supply of essential nutrients to various body parts thus threatening the life of the individual.
In order to meet such emergency blood supply, the blood banks organize blood donation camps where the activity of blood donation is facilitated. Blood donation can be defined as the process of voluntarily donating blood at any such blood bank o blood repository system. Usually, such blood repository systems store blood in safe and prescribed medical conditions such that the blood can be used by somebody at a later date to save somebody’s life. At times, this donated blood can also be transformed into some kind of biopharmaceutical medications using the process of fractionation.
Why Is Blood Donation Important?
Blood donation can ideally imply donation of blood as a complete fluid or for extracting some specific components from the blood directly. Such specific requirements are usually required to fulfil specific needs of the patients. There are several reasons why blood donation is good. Primarily, blood donation is good in an ethical sense since this can help in saving precious lives of human beings. Thus donation of blood is good for the recipient.
On the other hand, blood donation is equally helpful for the donor since such events of donating blood tend to improve the fitness of the donor. Usually, the donor donates not more than one pint of blood which is equivalent to 450 milliliter of blood. Donation of blood facilitates burning of calories within the body.
Donation of this amount of blood leads to burning of 650 calories in the body of the blood donor. Thus, the health conscious and fitness freak generation can get healthier by donating blood and helping someone in need. In fact, most blood donors have been reported to feel invigorated and freshly energized after donating blood. The regular activity of donating blood has also been proved to lower the risk of cancer in the human body.
Blood Donation Requirements For Female Donor
- They should not be menstruating
- They should not be expecting or are pregnant or nursing and breastfeeding mothers
- Females with a bad miscarriage should avoid donating blood for the next 6 months.
- Female donors must be at least 19 years old, at least 5’5″ tall and weigh at least 150 lbs.
- They have low iron levels or are acutely anaemic.
Common Blood Donation Requirments For Women and Men
While anybody can be a blood donor, there are some minimum eligibility criteria for successful blood donation. Some of such criteria include
- Age of the donor must be in between 18 and 60
- The weight of the donor must be fifty kilograms or above
- The donor can repeat the activity of blood donation only after three months from the date of last blood donation
Some Of The Blood Donors Who Are Disqualified Or Need To Follow Some Restriction From Donating Blood. According To Who Guidelines Include
- People with diseases which are transmissible such as AIDS and Hepatitis
- People who have undergone body piercing activities without confirming whether the needle used was sterile. Such people need to wait for a minimum period of twelve months prior to donating blood
- People with diabetes who need to inject insulin with a sterile syringe only reused by them
- People with flu cannot donate blood until the time the symptoms are prevalent
- Physically small people with small heights have smaller blood volumes and thus are not encouraged to donate blood as this may make them unstable.
- Pregnant women and nursing mothers are not encouraged for donating blood
- People with anemia are discouraged from donating blood
- Cancer patients are not allowed to be blood donors
- people who have suffered from malaria cannot donate blood till the next twelve months as the malarial parasite can usually lay dormant within the human body for at least a year
- People who are undergoing a course of antibioticsotics
Blood Donation Benefits for Females
There are various health benefits of donating blood such as reduced risk of cancer, burning of calories, reduced risk of hemochromatosis, reduced risk of liver and pancreas damage, limiting obesity, and improving the cardiovascular health of human body, irrespective of the gender of the donor. Thus, donors from both the genders need to contribute to this noble cause while taking the benefit of such donation.
A healthy male can repeat the cycle of donation after a minimum of twelve weeks. A healthy women donors repeat the cycle of donation after a minimum period of sixteen weeks.
Medically Reviewed By
Samarpita is a dedicated freelance writer with avid experience in the space of health, she specializes in topics related to diet, nutrition, immune-related diseases, detection and prevention of diseases and taking a natural route to cure such diseases.
