May social media present resolution to blood scarcity?

The Crimson Cross is managing the worst blood scarcity in additional than a decade. There are a selection of causes, however the query stays: what could be accomplished to get extra folks to offer? Bernard Appiah, assistant professor of public well being within the Falk School of Sport and Human Dynamics, has studied doable options, together with the usage of social media, to extend blood donations.

How produce other international locations managed at a time like this? Are these shortages worldwide?

The Crimson Cross’ declaration of a U.S. blood disaster for the primary time due to final 12 months’s 34% decline in new blood donors is no surprise. There is no such thing as a doubt that COVID-19 is negatively impacting blood provide worldwide.

For instance, of 35 African international locations whose nationwide blood donation knowledge for 2019 and 2020 knowledge have been analyzed, 17 international locations, together with Angola, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, had a COVID-19-induced donation lower of no less than 20%, with Zimbabwe and Kenya having decreases of 35.1% and 44.2%, respectively.

The lower may partly be attributed to folks fearing contracting COVID-19 throughout blood donation, and a few lockdown measures, resembling closure of colleges ensuing from the pandemic, which restricted the variety of blood drives.

Are there efficient, confirmed options? You point out the usage of social media in outreach.

The lower in blood donations has led to some international locations implementing some donor recruitment methods. For instance, the Nationwide Blood Service Ghana created communication interventions to allay fears about contracting COVID-19 throughout blood donation among the many public, and to coach them in regards to the persevering with want for blood donation, with messages from key personalities resembling Ghana’s first girl and feminine conventional leaders calling on folks to donate blood to avoid wasting lives.

In Pakistan, a social media marketing campaign by way of WhatsApp led to 56% of individuals donating blood because of WhatsApp messages they acquired from a blood financial institution.

In Brazil, a regional blood reference heart applied a number of methods, together with intensified social media and mass media campaigns, and elevated blood assortment from military items, and located them to achieve success in addressing the shortfall.

May this translate to america (success in social media outreach) as nicely?

To this point, the recruitment methods being applied globally have been serving to to deal with crises in blood provide however extra research are wanted to check the effectiveness of the methods. Additionally, socio-cultural components may impression the success of such interventions, and thus international locations would have to be artistic in utilizing points of the tradition to entice folks new and present blood donors to donate blood donation extra.

Given the widespread use of social media in america, blood banks may implement revolutionary social media campaigns to draw the youth to donate blood. The methods might have to be completely different for current blood donors, and those that haven’t donated blood earlier than. We’d like extra new blood donors provided that current blood donors already know the significance of blood donation.

What are the implications if we proceed down this path of critically low blood provides?

If the U.S. blood disaster will not be urgently addressed, it might be an enormous downside for individuals who might urgently want blood for transfusion, together with folks with sickle cell illness anemia, which historically impacts Blacks.

Blood provide organizations would have to be far more artistic in designing culturally acceptable interventions, notably these that concentrate on social media and mass media, to assist recruit new blood donors and retain current blood donors to assist enhance blood provide.