Facebook Launches Blood Donations Feature for India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan

• To honor World Blood Donor Day, Facebook announced its new Blood Donations feature that allows citizens of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan to be notified of blood donation opportunities nearby.
• Facebook will also be running campaigns in the three countries to heighten blood donation awareness.
• Facebook will also partner with blood donation organizations in India to set up over 2,000 blood donation events this month.

Facebook announced its Blood Donations for India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh today to help users find blood donation opportunities nearby. The social media platform will also be running campaigns to raise awareness on blood donations. 11 million people have already signed up to be a part of the new initiative, allowing Facebook to raise thousands of donations already.

According to Facebook’s research team, many countries see a decline in the number of donations during May and June, and the social media platform seeks to remedy this as much as possible by partnering with blood donation organizations and events to involve more people into the cause. Multiple organizations in India are partnering with Facebook to help save lives using the blood donation features. India’s Ministry of Health and Welfare, Grants Welfare Foundation and the National Blood Transfusion Council will be collaborating with the social media platform to host over 2,000 events this month in the Blood Donation center.

Image Courtesy of Facebook Newsroom

A month-long campaign will be run on the social platform to educate users about the importance and impact of blood donations. There is a shortage of donors across the globe with most of the problems caused by a lack of information or false pre-conceived notions in people about donating. The campaign will feature stories of donors who help save lives using the platform’s features to encourage more people to join the cause.

The goal of the campaign is to generate a more sustainable blood supply for medical emergencies. There is no word on how the new feature is set to expand and its availability is limited to the three aforementioned countries only as of now. Facebook users from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh can visit the blood donations page to access a visual guide to all nearby places that are accepting blood donations. Partner organizations can also set up blood camps on the platform to add to the number of available donation camps.