Man donated blood every week for 60 years and helped save 2.4M babies

Re:Man donated blood every week for 60 years and helped save... by jgmjgm on Saturday May 12, 2018 @09:26AM (#17053955)

Actually, the assumption that paying people will result in more blood is perhaps more problematic. The research seems to indicate that people actually like to donate. Although, work is ongoing.

http://freakonomics.com/2013/06/05/is-paying-for-blood-a-goo...

Quote:

    The position and guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) and several national blood collection agencies for nearly 40 years have been based on the view that offering economic incentives to blood donors is detrimental to the quantity and safety of the blood supply. The guidelines suggest that blood should be obtained from unpaid volunteers only. 

    However, whether economic incentives positively or negatively affect blood donations (and other prosocial activities) has remained the subject of debate since the positions were established.

    Evidence consistent with the WHO position came originally from uncontrolled studies using nonrandom samples and, subsequently, from surveys and laboratory studies indicating that economic incentives can “crowd out” (decrease) intrinsic motivations to donate and can attract “worse” donors.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Man donated blood every week for 60 years and helped save... by _asummers on Saturday May 12, 2018 @10:20AM (#17054171)

That's a different thing than is being suggested though, I believe. That study sounds like something along the lines of a "Come donate and get $50" type of arrangement. The parent's suggestion was more along the lines of specifically targeting individuals that have e.g. O blood or rare properties in their blood, removing the likelihood of quality going down.

[ Parent | on HN ]