Iron is a vitally important element in human
metabolism. It plays a central role in erythropoiesis
and is also involved in many other intracellular
processes in all the tissues of the body12. The potential
for an individual donor to give blood without
developing iron-deficiency anaemia is dependent on
many factors such as differences in nutritional iron
intake, the prevalence of iron deficiency in the
particular population, menstrual iron loss in females
and the frequency of blood donation13,15. Recent
studies have shown that the frequency of iron
deficiency is high in blood donors and more dependent
on the frequency of donation than on the accumulated
number of donations