Facebook teams up with Lifeblood to launch Blood Donations feature

Across Australia, more than 31,000 blood donations are needed by Australian Red Cross Lifeblood (Lifeblood) every week to meet the needs of patients.

That’s why we are proud to be partnering with Lifeblood to launch a tool across Australia that will help to top up the nation’s blood supply with much-needed new donations.

Our Blood Donations feature is launching nationwide today. Globally so far, it has already helped over 100 million people on Facebook to sign up to receive notifications to donate blood, increasing blood donations around the world and helping to maintain blood supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The feature allows those aged between 18 and 65 to sign up to receive updates on Facebook about giving blood, get notified about opportunities to donate at local blood donor centers and invite friends to donate. We are promoting the feature by notifying people in their newsfeeds, or people can simply find it by searching “blood donations” on Facebook.

Thanks to the generosity of the nation’s blood donors, thousands of lives are saved every day. But with high demand due to COVID-19, more donors are needed. Right now, one blood donation is needed every 24 seconds and a new blood donor is needed every five minutes. Our blood donations feature aims to make it as easy as possible for Australians to donate blood and help to save lives. Within a few clicks, people can sign up, be notified when their local donor center needs more donors to book in, as well as encourage others to do the same.

Currently, most Australian donors are aged over 45, which is why Lifeblood is seeking to recruit ‘new blood' through the blood donation feature to help to secure the next generation of long-term donors and secure the blood supply for the future.

People who sign up will be able to see requests and opportunities to donate blood at over 76 donor centers on Blood Donations on Facebook on their mobile devices.