According to the World Health Organisation, the blood donation rate in Egypt ranges between 10-19.9 donations for every 1,000 people, which is a relatively low rate. These paltry numbers reflect an endemic national structural failure in organising blood donation and transfusion. The country’s supplies are so scarce that hospitals charge for blood bags. Currently when faced with a blood crisis in the family, relatives often donate their own blood bags to those in need, or set up an online blood donation campaign.

 

According to Egyptian blood donation awareness body Triple Effect, there is a high risk of unsafe blood in Egypt due to family replacements or obliged donors, which represent a high-risk target group. The organisation’s website claims, “As a result, many blood recipients are contaminated with Hepatitis B or C Virus and other transfusion transmitted diseases.”

 

In 2011, Egyptian national Amgad Morgan, found himself in what has become a very typical situation. He was asked to rush to his local hospital to help save his friend’s mother’s life with a personal blood donation. Upon reaching the hospital, he was informed that he wasn’t the right blood match.  Morgan, who is the founder of the blood donor service Hope, said this personal situation made him acutely aware of the growing blood crisis in Egypt. He also realised that something had to be done to alleviate an epidemic that was risking many lives on a daily basis.

Morgan says, “Prior to visiting my friend’s mother, I'd noticed a pattern in blood donation requests sent using either social networks and Blackberry Messenger.

 

“I then realised the need for a solution that can gather all the blood requests in one place, alerting blood donors about the nearest cases they can donate to and opening up communication lines for donors. I wanted to give patients hope.”

 

Morgan’s organisation, Hope, provides a vital medical service that utilises mobile technology to connect blood donors and blood transfusions. “Designing the algorithm that aggregates blood donation requests from social network and setting up user privacy was initially challenging,” says Morgan.                

The organisation’s aggregator platform combines blood donation requests from different sources in one place, giving the blood donor the opportunity to see real-time donor requests as they arise.

 

He says, “By connecting those in need with a network of willing donors, Hope is able to reduce hospital costs, while helping support healthy and safe blood donation practices.”

 

Morgan adds, “Hope functions both as a smart phone application and as a stand alone SMS service, ensuring that any individual with a mobile phone is able to access the network.

“In a region where there is a lack of awareness surrounding blood donations and transfusions, we engage vulnerable populations on a critical medical issue.”

 

Through Hope, Morgan says he is creating and growing a nation-wide citizen based movement that aims to systematically combine a nationwide fight against blood diseases with the mobilisation of blood donors across Egypt.

 

Amgad has adopted an ‘actor-based’ approach, which aims to connect NGOs with companies and the government. Following a period of self-funding, Hope is now under the patronage of the Ministry of Communication and Telecommunication of Egypt and is also supported by corporate donations. Morgan says, “We're working on building a sustainable system.”

 

Hope has now grown into a team of four full-time employees. The organisation currently has over 15,000 users on its Facebook and mobile platforms.

 

Morgan says, “There is a lack of regular blood donation in the community, so Hope’s work is crucial. Currently, the number of blood donors is not enough to cover the required requests, we're trying out bridging this gap and also increase the awareness of the importance of blood donation.”

 

Hope is also focused on increasing the safety of blood donations. “We're working with the governmental blood bank authorities to guarantee the quality and purity of blood in order to stop blood infections spreading.”

 

Morgan adds that it was a challenge initially to build trust levels between blood donors and blood donees on the Hope app. But through good communication and persistence the entrepreneur says he is making progress.

 

The app has now spread its wings beyond Egypt and is now being used in the GCC, India, Africa and South America. “We're covering 31 countries. We're planning a new modified version that can work anywhere. We hope to make Hope the world’s first global blood donation sharing platform that anyone can use.”