Blood donations in India have always had a huge demand and supply disparity, which is largely due to the fact that people lack awareness about their options. Twitter India launched the #BloodMatters campaign, which is a new social initiative to highlight blood donations and why they are so important.
Jagat Prakash Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare for India, commended Twitter on this initiative since it ties into the Swastha Bharat mission. Even Ravi Shankar Prasad, Information Technology (IT) Minister for India, supported Twitter’s venture by sharing how to access blood banks online through the Online Registration System (ORS) portal.
Blood Donors India (@BloodDonorsIN) was the first Indian blood helpline to partner with Twitter India to bring momentum to their initiative. All users have to do is tweet to @BloodDonorsIn with their location, blood type, and contact details if they have a request they’d like to make.
On the other hand, if there are users who would like to help out, they can follow the Blood Donors India account and retweet requests to get further assistance.
Twitter will take their partnership a step further by amplifying the real-time communication between the blood donation helpline and people in need. Through Twitter Lite, Blood Donors India will have access to a real-time information exchange of blood donations throughout the country.
Further, the automated response solution should be able to scale the helpline’s operations, which is currently operated by a group of volunteers.
Through this project, Twitter hopes to bring in more blood donation helplines, blood banks and health institutions pan-India to create a larger network with a broader reach.
Clarifying their aims and expectations from the initiative, Twitter India stated, “The platform aims to scale up the volume of blood donation conversation in India, the number of donors, and work with partners that can ensure safe, screened blood can reach those in need in time across India”
Some people may remember Facebook’s campaign from last year to ease the process of donating blood in India. The reason blood donations are of paramount importance in India is because the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that there are only nine million units of blood available in India annually, whereas the actual demand is around 12 million units.
Mahima Kaul, Head of Public Policy at Twitter India said, “Giving back has been a priority for Twitter since its inception and we believe the open exchange of information can be a compelling force for good in the world. #BloodMatters is a step in that direction.”
“We are humbled to kickstart the initiative with @BloodDonorsIN, a handle that symbolises our mission of positively impacting the world by harnessing the real-time power of Twitter and hope to make a larger impact by extending its reach through Twitter Lite,” she added.