Blood scarcity is a challenge that has for years faced the health-care system in Nigeria, resulting in loss of lives, but Temie Giwa-Tubosun’s LifeBank App is addressing it by connecting hospitals in Lagos to blood banks.
The LifeBank App runs 2 services, an intuitive blood donor database that inspires committed Africans to give blood and save lives in their community, and an enterprise marketplace for hospitals and blood banks.
The simple system starts with the blood donor, who books an appointment on LifeBank App with the nearest blood bank, and then goes ahead to donate blood on the agreed day and time. The blood bank transports the blood to a central screening location, where the State Government tests and screens for all transfusable infections, reducing the possibility of blood-transmitted infections entering the chain. The blood is then returned to the blood bank where it sits in a cold environment until it is requested by a hospital.
Through the app, medical professionals can order blood from about 25 blood banks in Lagos. Orders are filtered by blood type, location and urgency. LifeBank’s logistics team then stores the blood in a cool chain system—keeping it at 10 degrees Celsius—and transports it in Bluetooth-padlocked boxes that only the intended recipient can open.
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With LifeBank, hospitals no longer need to scramble around looking for blood. In just a few clicks on the app and website, they can find all the blood available in Lagos State, make their order, and in 52 minutes, it’s delivered in the best condition to them.
According to Temi, “I started this work because of a simple conviction, that Africans deserve access to good health care. I believe that health care is both a fundamental basic need and that it is an inalienable human right.
I built LifeBank to increase the blood available in the country through our LifeBank App that reminds and schedules donor appointments. We also help hospitals discover the products they need and we deliver it in the right condition, all under 52 minutes.”
LifeBank has so far been of great benefit to millions of people, delivering an average of 300 pints of blood a month to more than 170 hospitals across the state. At the same time, it has been successful at encouraging more and more people to save lives by becoming blood donors. This is great for Nigeria’s health sector, and would go a long way to reduce the high mortality rate recorded yearly.
