Nigeria Technopreneurs Develop App for Blood Donation
Nigeria Technopreneurs and the Software developers in particular are beginning to solve real problems with Technology. Recently, a team of techies and health professionals using technology to revolutionize the way blood donation is done in Nigeria had a three day hackathon to commemorate the 2013 World Blood Donor Day in which they built an app, the LifeBank, that makes it easy to give and receive blood in Nigeria.
This App is set to solve this great problem of access to safe blood. In Nigeria, access to safe blood when needed is a big challenge. Many patients have had to die in Nigeria hospitals while waiting for blood. Many have also been transfused with unsafe blood.
While Speaking on the 2012 World Blood Donor day, the Minister of Health said,” In Nigeria, we are currently faced with a situation, where by 60 per cent of all blood donations are from commercial donors, 30 per cent from family replacement and only 10 per cent are from voluntary donors.”
Report has also shown that Only about 54% of the blood needed in Lagos-(a highly populated city in Nigeria) is collected and only 10% is collected from volunteer blood donors. There is need for volunteer blood donors in Nigeria.
The three day Hackathon by these young techies in which the LifeBank App was built was coordinated under the One Percent project. The One Percent Project is determined to reduce maternal and child mortality by improving the supply of safe and accessible blood in Nigeria. The project is aimed to help Nigeria reach 100% volunteer blood supply by 2020.
From the report made available to us, since the launch of the One percent project in May 2012, they have planned and implemented three blood drives in two universities in Nigeria, launched a map of all blood donation centers, and introduced a blood donor database with hundreds of Nigerians who pledged to become blood donors. So far, they have collected 754 pints of blood, enough to save about 2,262 lives. Their goal is to build an organization that makes it convenient for one percent of Nigerians to routinely donate blood.
Temie Giwa, Director, One Percent Project opined, “We think it’s important to make it very easy for people to give blood, and this hack has built an app that would do just that.”
According to Oo Nwoye, the hackathon coordinator, “Access to safe blood in Nigeria needs urgent attention, and we are using web and mobile technology to facilitate this, while raising societal awareness of the benefits of donating.”
The project is supported by the Co- Creation Hub Nigeria, Audax Solution and Hello Food.
This is a highly commendable initiative in mHealth, let us join them to save a life today by registering at LifeBank.
