Background: Understanding the knowledge and awareness of blood donation among potential blood donors in population, like young people, and the associated attitudes and practices is important.

Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study whereby a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information from the consenting participants.

Results: A total of 422 participants were enrolled. Their mean age was 24.2 (SD 3.6) years. Of the 422, 30% have ever donated blood. 55% of those who had ever donated were repeated blood donors. Majority of the participants (93%) had positive attitudes towards blood donation and 88% were willing to donate in future. Factors that were significantly associated with ever donating blood were: males, knowing a person who has donated blood, knowledge on amount of blood donation, willingness to donate in future and not expecting any post donation reward.

Discussion: High awareness, positive attitude and high intention to donate in future should be used to underscore the need to educate the young people on value of blood donation in saving lives and to give them correct information on overall requirements for blood donation.