High School Students and Blood Donation #高校生献血 The importance of 200ml
W202003: Kyoto Prefectural Toba High School

Research Question
How can we encourage young people to start giving blood?

Background

As Japan becomes an aging society, the number of people who need donated blood has increased. According to the Japan RedCross, more than 85% of the people who need blood donations are over the age of 50. At the same time, only about 20% of blood
donors are between the age of 16 and 29. Unless young people start donating more, Japan will face a serious blood shortage inthe future. In this research project, we wanted to find out if there was something we could do as high school students to help
solve this problem.

Investigation
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What type of donations can high school students make?

How many high school students give blood now?

There are two type of blood donations: whole blood donations andplasma donations. High school students are only able to give

We looked at Kyoto and two nearby prefectures. There are about
430,000 high school students in this area. Of these 11,594 gave
blood in 2019. So as a percentage of the number of students in eachprefecture, it is:whole blood donations. Furthermore, there are two different
donation amounts: 200ml and 400ml. People under the age of 18
are only allowed to donate 200ml. Therefore, in this research
project we are going to focus on 200ml whole blood donations.
Although this type is not as in demand as 400ml donations, it is

Kyoto -- 1.63%
Osaka -- 2.91%
Hyogo -- 2.85%

very important because it is needed for children and elderly
people who have a weakened immune system.

Kyoto was the lowest of the three.

Reference: October 10, 2020 interview at Kyoto Red Cross.

Reference: Kyoto Japan Red Cross Annual Report 2019

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Why is the number of HS students in Kyoto who give blood low?

How do high school students feel about donating blood?

One reason may be that the number of donation rooms and thenumber of bloodmobiles (mobile blood donation centers) is the lower
than the other two prefectures.

We did a survey of 70 students second grade Global Course at ourschool. We found thatRooms: Osaka 10, Hyogo 7, Kyoto 3
Bloodmobiles: Osaka 16, Hyogo, 9, Kyoto 6
From this we can say that perhaps one reason students do not give
blood is because there are a limited number of places to do itin Kyoto. Unfortunately, these are difficult to increase for financial
reasons.

-Only 3 students have ever donated.

Advertising

was the way most students hear about blooddonation. Other ways were through SNS or seeing the bloodmobile.
-More than 50% are interested in donating.

So, high schools students

will donate if given the chance.

Reference: Kyoto Japan Red Cross Annual Report 2019

Reference: October 2020 survey by the authors.

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How is blood donation being promoted now?

What kind of promotions would HS students be interested in?

Famous people appear in TV commercials, posters, and other typesof advertisements for promoting blood donations. There are also
special gifts such as clear files and towels with photos of famous
people on them.

We made another survey and asked 134 first and second grade

In Kyoto, there are community-based events such as a collaboration
event with the soccer team Kyoto Sanga FC. Participants who give
blood can get an original towel with the players autographs.
These promotions, however, are not targeted at highschool students. So, we tried to think of some events or

Global Course some promotional ideas such as giving
coupons for karaoke or movie theaters, putting lots of posters topromote blood donation in high schools, and asking shops near ourschool, such as juice shops, bookstores, sporting goods stores, todonate coupons to high school students who give blood.
Unfortunately, none of the ideas were very popular. Moreover,many students had a negative image of donating blood, suchas "it hurts" or "it seems like a lot of trouble."

promotions that high school students would be interested in.
Reference: October 2020 survey by the authors.

Reference: November 2020 survey by the authors.

ProposalPromote giving blood as a fun and meaningful activity to do with friends

Discussion
In our research, we found that while many students want to give blood, there are a limited number of places to do it in Kyoto
and they have a negative image about it, and promotions such as giving coupons or gifts are not attractive to them. So we
propose promoting giving blood as a fun and meaningful activity to do with friends. For example, we four went to give blood
together. It was a really fun experience that we could share and we felt good helping people. We can promote this image ofgiving blood as a positive experience on SNS using hashtags such as #高校生献血 or #献血デビュー or in posters.