The need to encourage more people to donate blood more frequently is evident and urgent, as the blood supply is often insufficient to meet the demand of health systems around the world. Understanding how to effectively increase this prosocial behavior is critical to the proper functioning of health systems.

An often-mentioned barrier to blood donation is commuting. To examine the effectiveness of a barrier removal incentive, researcher Lucia Barros, from FGV EAESP, together with researchers from FGV EBAPE and Imperial College London, conducted a study published in Social Science and Medicine. The research looked at the implementation of a one-day transportation voucher to promote blood donation and its long-term effects.

In 2018, the state blood center of Rio de Janeiro launched a campaign in partnership with a ride-hailing company, offering transportation vouchers that offered discounts for trips to and/or from the blood center unit. The analysis covered a period of 195 days and almost 24 thousand donors, using logistic regression and proportional risk models to assess the influence of the campaign and return rates.

The results showed a significant increase in donation attempts on the day of the campaign, with 590 attempts resulting in 438 effective donations. There was a notable increase in the number of first-time donors and the initiative attracted more individuals who fit the profile of the ride-hailing company's customers. The incentive alleviated financial, time, and effort costs by reducing the inconveniences associated with blood donation.

However, the waiting time at the blood center was considerably longer on the day of the campaign, but without compromising the quality of the blood collected. The intervention resulted in a 97.4% increase in donations on campaign day, with a predicted return rate of 36.2% for the treated group.

While the incentive substantially increased donor attendance on the day of the intervention, it also reduced the rate of donor return in the future. This can be explained due to the increase in wait time, which negatively affected the donor experience. Despite this, the short-term increase in the number of donations during the intervention offset the reduction in return rates, validating the effectiveness of the intervention.

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