In the recent years, there has been a need to increase advertisements on blood donation. These advertisements have been done through posters, radio stations and even the television stations. The aim is to reach as many people as possible so that the problem of blood shortage in hospitals can be addressed once and for all. Blood shortage has been caused by various factors that will be addressed by this research. In addition, these advertisements have some impacts on society. The aim of this research paper is to evaluate the causes of advertisements encouraging blood donations. The paper will also evaluate the impacts of these advertisements to the society.
The demand for blood transfusion has increased, necessitating the need to search for additional supply of blood. This increase in demand has created the need to advertise to people so that they can donate more blood to meet the growing demand for blood. The reason for the increased demand is that there are many diseases that have attacked people in the modern world, necessitating blood transfusion so that individuals can be treated. Some of these diseases need surgery so that they can be treated. Surgery leads to loss of much blood hence the need for blood transfusion. Diseases like cancer have increased the number of people in need of blood transfusion.
The increase in technology has led to increase in the number of accidents all over the world. Accidents lead to loss of a lot of blood. With much blood loss, blood transfusion is inevitable. These accidents have led to an increase in the demand of blood in many hospitals. Without advertisements, the people willing to donate blood are very few. Adverts are therefore important.
High demand for blood transfusion has also been facilitated by diseases that create a need for blood transfusion. People suffering from HIV/AIDS have found it easier to reduce the amount of viruses in their blood by blood transfusion. Many people are therefore demanding blood transfusion increasing need to persuade more people to donate blood.
Another cause of advertisements is the reduced number of people willing to donate blood. People in the recent years have decided not to donate blood in fear that other people will realize that they are suffering from certain diseases. People suffering from HIV/AIDS have stopped donating blood after knowing their status. People who fear that they might have contracted the disease have also decided to stop donating their blood. The results are that blood shortage has been experienced. Considering that the number of people affected is expected to increase even in the future, the stakeholders in health hospitals have made a decision make more advertisements to persuade more people to donate blood. The available action is to reach more people, showing them the need to donate blood. This will increase the number of people donating blood hence the problem of blood shortage will end.
Advertisements have affected the economy in many ways. In the first place, these advertisements are expensive. It should be noted that most of these advertisements are paid for by the government or government agencies. Adverts on the television and radios are very expensive. Advertisements on blood donation also involve movement from one place to another and this involves travelling expenses and time. The effects of this are that the government ends up spending huge sums of money that could have been used in other development projects. These projects could have facilitated economic growth. Therefore, these advertisements in a way facilitate stagnation of the economy.
Through the advertisements, more people have been convinced that blood donation is important for the economy. It is through this that many people have been healed from various diseases. People who have been involved in accidents have been saved. The effects of this are that important people who are productive in various sectors of the economy have been saved hence they can now contribute to economic growth. From this argument, it can be asserted that these advertisements have impacted positively on the economic growth.
These advertisements have led to increase in the costs of providing health care to the society. Advertisements involve costs that should be paid for. After expenditure has been met by the government, the health centers have been forced to increase the costs of healthcare services. This is done with an aim of recovering the costs incurred in the advertisements.
When people are required to pay for blood donation services, they go ahead to blame the government. Their arguments are that blood is usually donated by people and the same people pay for the blood when sick. This creates an unethical concern in that people start assuming that blood donation is a business in that the blood is sold to other people.
Increased cost on healthcare services has negative effects in the economy since people are not able to afford the best healthcare services. This is what leads to low standards of living in the economy. The people who incur high costs in medical services find it difficult to save and invest to boost their standers of living.
Advertisements on blood donation also affect people in the society. The effects can be either positive or negative. One of the advantageous effect that people become aware of their blood groups which is advantageous to people. With advertisements, people have seen the need to donate blood. Some people fail to donate blood because they do not know the importance of the action. However, those who donate blood end up knowing their blood groups. They are also able to identify their friends with similar blood groups. In case of emergencies such as accidents, people who are aware of their blood groups are easily saved because no much time is wasted in trying to identify their blood group. In addition, it is easy to trace their friends with similar blood group. Therefore, treatment of such individuals becomes very easy.
Advertisements have led to dangerous effects to individuals. When advertisements are made, people turn up in large numbers to donate blood. When the number of people willing to donate blood is too large, there is no time to test whether the people present fulfill the necessary conditions before they can donate blood. People donating blood should be above a certain weigh and should be above a certain age. They should not be suffering from certain diseases such as high blood pressure. Due to advertisements, minors and people who are sick end up donating blood. The effects are that some people collapse and faint after blood donation. These people can be physically injured when this happens. Secondly, some people face a lot of difficulties after the time they have donated blood. They become more ill which sometimes lead to greater complications.
The advertisements usually do not give the side effects of blood donation to some people. These advertisements do not also specify the requirements for an individual willing to donate blood. This is why the advertisements can be linked to the adverse health effects on people.
Advertisements have also improved the provision of health services to people. With the advertisements, all the blood groups are stored in various hospitals. When there are emergencies, little time is taken before the victims can be treated. People in need of transfusion do not have to wait for days before blood transfusion can be done to them. With readily available blood in hospitals, people are able to receive treatment services without much strain. The survival of many people has been facilitated by the increase in donation of blood by people. This increase has been facilitated by advertisements calling people to donate blood.
Blood donation advertisements have been taken differently by different people. Some people view it as an attempt to make free money. These advertisements are expensive and this affects government expenditure negatively. The advertisements have also led to increase in costs of health services. However, these costs are outweighed by the benefits associated with advertisements. Many people have realized the importance of donating blood through the adverts. This has ensured that blood is continuously supplied to health centers. Emergency cases have been effectively dealt with hence saving lives of many people. People who need blood transfusion now spend less time in hospitals as opposed to when advertisements on blood donation were absent.
