Reported with assistance from Kashi Khan and Zarghona Khalil, from the University of Peshawar.
Facebook will soon launch a new feature in Pakistan connecting patients in need of blood donations with willing donors, hoping to ease the challenges in a country suffering from a shortage of safe blood.
‘Blood Donations on Facebook’ will become available on May 15, allowing users to send out a specialised message requesting blood donations in times of emergency and connect donors with blood banks and hospitals.
The feature is an extension to a Facebook tool released last October which saw 8 million people in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh sign up to be blood donors, providing critical medical relief in those countries.
Pakistan is a country facing a shortage of safe blood, with patients and their families often responsible for finding the blood needed for life-saving medical procedures.
Safe Blood Transfusion Programme national coordinator, Prof Hasan Abbas Zaheer, estimates 90 per cent of blood donations in the nation are provided by “family donors”.
The supply and donation of safe blood is reduced by a high prevalence of transmissible viruses in potential donors and according to Prof Zaheer, a lack of a blood donation culture.
Professor Hasan Abbas Zaheer, Photo: ResearchGate
Patients and collection centres already actively use Facebook, with thousands of posts seeking donors each month and over 100,000 people in blood donation community groups, a Facebook press release said.
Fatimid Foundation is a voluntary health care and blood transfusion service, providing thousands of bags of safe blood to patients nationwide. Its Peshawar branch runs a Facebook page and Whatsapp group, connecting donors in times of need.
Media coordinator, Muhammad Bilal, said when a particular blood group was needed, a message was placed on social media and a match was easily found.
“Ten days ago a patient needed blood in Lahore. We posted in Facebook and we found three packs, that’s how Facebook plays a great role in finding blood donors.”
Blood Transfusion Authority deputy director, Muhammad Ali, said he was already seeing the benefits of social media in sourcing donations.
“The number of donations is rising day by day. Nowadays [the] younger generation is much more active on Facebook and social media and it helps a lot in finding blood donors,” Mr Ali said.
Product manager of Heath at Facebook, Hema Budaraju, said they were hopeful the new feature would promote health awareness and solve the issue of donor shortages in Pakistan.
“If you think about places where the supply of safe blood is enough, the system works because there is a set of people who proactively look for times and ways to blood,” Ms Budaraju said.
“I’m optimistic that blood donation is one place where the country and the community can mobilise and help each other and Facebook can play a role in increasing the supply of safe blood in the world.”
Photo: Facebook Newsroom
To register for the initiative users must provide basic personal information through the app, including blood type and donation history. Users are also offered the option to invite friends.
Facebook has assured users their private information will be stored securely, participants will have the option to make their personal details public or private within the app.
The blood donations feature will streamline the process of finding donors, with users receiving targeted notifications when a nearby hospital, blood bank or individual is in need.
Prof Zaheer said he was confident “the success of this Facebook feature could redefine the voluntary blood donation scenario in Pakistan in the most cost-effective manner.”
Feature photo credit: Facebook Newsroom
