As the world marks world blood donor day tomorrow, Google have partnered with LifeBank to ensure that the barriers that prevent blood availability to persons that need it are greatly reduced.
The Head of Brands and Reputation, Google Sub-Saharan Africa, Jola Aderemi, stated that Google is interested in making information accessible to the people.
Aderemi added: “Organising information and making it accessible is at the heart of Google’s mission. LifeBank’s system shows just how much magic can happen when universally accessible tools and information meet human creativity, aspirations and resilience.”
Also speaking, the founder of LifeBank, Temie Giwa-Tubosun, stated that time is of essence in making sure that the patients get the blood they need.
She said: “In the race to get blood to patients, every second counts. Donated blood has a shelf life of just six weeks. Often, it expires before it is ever used because doctors are unable to locate the type of blood that they need. The doctors who need the blood and the blood banks who are discarding blood needed to somehow find a way to communicate with each other. Using the Google Maps Platform to create an interface for these once-disconnected entities by mapping each location involved in blood distribution across Lagos – from hospitals to blood banks to the delivery drivers – has given us a solution.”
She also stated that LifeBank has signed up over 5,800 new donors, moved over 13,800 pints, served 300-plus hospitals, and saved more than 4,000 lives regretting that poor knowledge of Nigerians concerning blood and religious beliefs and others are part of the factors militating against blood donation in the country.
Temie Giwa-Tubosun reiterated that it used to take two hours to get blood delivered to patients but LifeBank has made it twenty minutes and she further stated that apart from women who may need blood after delivery, there are other persons too like those who have kidney ailments that also need blood stressing that if one per cent of Nigerians can donate blood frequently it will go a long way.
She also urged Nigerians not feel discouraged that they may donate blood for free but the blood may later be sold to patients, she explained that what the patients pay for is mostly for storage stressing that it actually cost a lot of money to preserve blood.
The Eagle Online reports that that Nigeria has the fourth-highest maternal mortality rate in the world, accounting for 19% of all maternal deaths globally and Postpartum haemorrhaging (the loss of too much blood following birth) is the leading cause of such deaths and also the lack of infrastructure to get crucial blood supplies in Nigeria compounds this problem.
The Eagle Online also reports that LifeBank works using a digital platform, which sorts orders based on urgency, location, and price and dispatch riders move blood in boxes that are padlocked and can only be opened by the recipient using a Bluetooth connection or key.