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Yara Dixon: Barriers and Facilitators to Blood Donation Across Diverse Populations
Sep 2, 2026, 09:49

Yara Dixon: Barriers and Facilitators to Blood Donation Across Diverse Populations

Yara Dixon, PhD Candidate (Pediatric) Hematology at Amsterdam UMC, shared a post on LinkedIn about a recent article she and her colleagues co-authored, published in Blood Global Hematology, adding:

”Excited to share my first PhD publication.

Our article, ‘Barriers and facilitators to blood donation in the Global South, and Global North ethnic minorities: a scoping review’, is now published in Blood Global Hematology.

For this scoping review, we explored barriers and facilitators to blood donation across the Global South and among ethnic minority populations in the Global North. We included 270 studies from 55 countries across the world.

Key findings from our study:

  • Limited awareness, fear, accessibility issues and mistrust were among the key barriers to blood donation, highlighting the value of targeted education, transparent communication and culturally sensitive outreach.
  • Similar barriers and facilitators were observed across the Global South and Global North, while each region also showed unique influences shaped by local beliefs, norms and practices.
  • Ethnic minorities showed different donation behaviors in host countries compared with their countries of origin, reflecting changes in the barriers and facilitators they encounter.
  • Our findings highlight the need for tailored, region-specific interventions to recruit and retain diverse blood donor populations.

This publication marks an important milestone in my PhD journey, and I’m grateful to my co-authors Miyaada Muna Abdi, Nerissa Denswil and Eva-Maria Merz for their collaboration and support throughout this work.

A special thank you to my promotor, Prof. Dr. Merz, who introduced me to a field outside my comfort zone as a medical doctor and made me genuinely passionate about the world of behavioural science.”

Title: Barriers and facilitators to blood donation in the Global South, and Global North ethnic minorities: a scoping review

Authors: Y. Dixon, M. Abdi, N. P. Denswil, E.-M. Merz

Yara Dixon: Barriers and Facilitators to Blood Donation Across Diverse Populations

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