From Victims to Heroes: COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Donation Awareness, Knowledge, and Willingness among Selected Respondents in the City of Manila

Abstract

The increasing COVID-19 cases continue to rattle the Philippine healthcare system in determining the most optimal response. Efficient and effective therapeutic strategies—such as the use of convalescent plasma—for managing COVID-19 patients are needed while definitive and universal programs are still in the works. However, the consistency of implementing the COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) therapy heavily depends on the supply of donated plasma units. With this, the study aimed to assess the overall knowledge and awareness of recovered COVID-19 patients regarding convalescent plasma and the factors that can affect their willingness to donate. A non-proportional quota sampling technique was employed to determine the respondents who met the inclusion criteria. Pearson’s r test determined a significantly high positive correlation between donor willingness and the factors that motivate individuals to donate CCP (p-value=0.000; r=0.738), indicating that these two variables are directly related. The values obtained from the study show that knowledge demonstrates a significant, very low positive correlation with age (p-value=0.053; r=053), while awareness displays a significant, very low positive correlation with donor willingness (p-value=0.000; r=0.282). These findings suggest that motivational factors should be emphasized in the interventions and recruitment strategies for CCP donation. Continuous efforts in making the process more accessible while assuring security and safety aid to address factors that impede the practice of donating CCP. Lastly, reinforcing educational blood donation campaigns to know more about blood products other than whole blood should be available to the public, especially for the younger generations.