Health Technology News Today – Artificial Intelligence Is Bridging The Gaps In Blood Transfusion Services In Abuja, Nigeria. 2 minutes read.
by
Ayinla Daniel. Rn, Rctn.
“We need to make sure that not only the safety of our donors and recipients are guaranteed, but also eliminate any possible fraud while requesting blood.” Angela Baiye, Founder JDI.
What kind of thoughts sit on the creative tables of innovators? Solution; this is the single fuel that drives the engine of innovation.
Innovators are people who live their days searching for solutions to all sort of problems that plague humanity. Can you imagine a world without innovators and inventors? A world devoid of the creative and stubborn mind of a man like Nikolai Tesla Who single-handedly invented the 20th and 21st century, or the invention of the thermometer by Gabriel Fahrenheit.
What about the fellow who invented the stethoscope, Rene Laennec, and the other German guy Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, who is responsible for pioneering the X-rays technology. And one last mention, Alfred Bertheim and Paul Ehrlich who opened the gates to the wonderful life-saving world of antibiotics. The list is endless.
Now, our present world, people are also working very hard, utilizing the tool of technology – Information Communication Technology; Artificial Intelligence, making unbelievable waves in every aspect of human endeavour. The health sector has seen over the past years remarkable developments brought about by the technology surge integrated into the 21st-century discovery of Artificial Intelligence.
Brilliant minds have been able to key into the potential of artificial intelligence, harnessing its energy to provide solutions to a myriad of problems facing the health sector today.
In Abuja, Nigeria, a group of brilliant minds have been able to come together, using the ever potent instrument of artificial intelligence to solve part of a problem, closing some of the gaps in blood transfusion services. Jela Development Initiatives (JDI) A non-governmental organisation (NGO) has been able to come up with an effective solution to solving some of the apparent problems in the blood supply chain in the country, though an idea that still needs a lot of attention, it holds a lot of promises.
These guys developed JBlood match, an Artificial Intelligence-driven concept that seeks to connect blood donors with recipients, at surprisingly no cost. Isn’t this awesome?
I won’t bore you with details of blood transfusion, but I want you to know that the need for safe blood is a universal need recognised by the World Health Organisation and people die every day because they do not have swift access to safe blood.
JBlood is building a community of blood donors who have been certified fit to donate blood (Blood donation is serious business). These safe blood donors are always available to give blood when a recipient makes requests, making blood transfusion easier for those who need blood. An application designed to match these donors and recipients, making use of accurate information provided by both donors and recipients, is available and very user-friendly.
This endeavour is really going to be of immense help to ensure that rural areas are served with safe blood, because these parts of the community are the ones who bear more of the brunts of lack of safe blood, due to a number of reasons. This initiative will go a long way in reducing maternal mortalities in these areas, more women die due to lack of adequate blood transfusion services in these rural areas. Not just for the rural areas and to reduce maternal deaths, what about in emergency situations where there is an urgent need for blood transfusion?
Though not without its challenges, and some of these challenges will include:
- Ensuring the safety of blood donation (Blood donation is a very fragile endeavour, utmost care must be taken).
- Lack of internet in rural areas (Though systems can be designed which do not necessarily need the internet).
- Recipients have to carry the financial burdens of investigations (Donor transport and comfort).
The application is now available, having been launched last year in Abuja, and exciting demonstrations made that showed how the application worked, I believe it is now ready for use, you can also check it up and let others know about it, its an innovation that we are happy about.
You can find a more elaborate article on the issue on health watch, I just wrote something very simple, without too many details, straight to the point, as usual, telling the innovation story.
Drop Your Comment