Transporting blood in Lagos: Lifebank’s life-saving business model

Blood.

It’s not the most expensive liquid in the world, but certainly one of the most important. 

An adult needs at least eight units of it to survive at any given time. And every few seconds, someone, somewhere, needs blood. Nigeria critically needs at least two million units every year. 

Unfortunately, it's in short and dwindling supply. As of 2017, the country had a deficit of more than 1.7 million units of blood. 

By 2019 this deficit had increased to 1.96 million. The National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) said it received only 24,500 units from volunteer donors last year compared to 66,000 units collected in 2017.

Blood demand

People that need blood range from accident victims, sickle cell anaemia carriers, surgery patients and women during childbirth. 

Every day, 165 women reportedly die of pregnancy-related complications. Postpartum haemorrhage- a condition where a woman bleeds after childbirth is responsible for 23% of maternal deaths