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About blood donation

Roughly an hour of your day, most of it sitting down. Here is what to expect and how VitaDrop works out whether you are due.

Not medical advice

This is a guide based on general criteria, not a medical assessment. Final eligibility is decided by qualified staff at the donation centre, who will screen you on the day.

What happens on the day

  1. 1

    Registration

    Bring photo identification. You fill in a health questionnaire.

  2. 2

    Screening

    Staff check your haemoglobin, blood pressure and pulse, and go through your answers privately.

  3. 3

    Donation

    The draw itself takes about eight to ten minutes for whole blood. Apheresis donations take longer.

  4. 4

    Rest

    Fifteen minutes with a drink and a snack before you leave. Do not skip this part.

How often you can donate

There is no single universal answer, which is why VitaDrop stores intervals as editable rules rather than hard-coding one. These are the intervals this deployment currently applies:

  • Double red cellsevery 168 days
  • Plasmaevery 14 days
  • Plateletsevery 14 days
  • Whole bloodevery 90 days

General criteria

  • Donor age range

    from 18 years · up to 65 years

  • Minimum haemoglobin

    haemoglobin at least 12.5 g/dL

  • Minimum donor weight

    at least 50 kg

Centres also screen for recent illness, medication, travel, tattoos and pregnancy. Those judgements are made in person, not by this app.

What VitaDrop does with your data

Your location

Sharing it is opt-in and reversible. Others see a pin placed at random inside a radius you choose, never your address, and distances are measured from that fuzzed point.

Your health details

Haemoglobin and notes are optional, private to you and administrators, and never appear in search results, on the map, or in a donor card.

One donation can help up to three people.