Facebook launches new feature to help increase blood donations in Pakistan

According to the social media giant, there are thousands of posts each month in Pakistan seeking blood donors on Facebook, and over 100,000 people in blood donation groups-Photo: AFP Facebook has launched a blood donations feature in Pakistan to make it easier for people to sign up to be blood donors, and to help connect donors with people and organisations in need, a press release said. ?People using Facebook in Pakistan will be able to sign up to be blood donors either on their profiles or by visiting facebook.com/donateblood. All information will remain private and set to Only Me by default, but people can choose to share their donor status more widely. This feature will be available on Android, iOS and desktop,? the press release said. According to the social media giant, there are thousands of posts each month in Pakistan seeking blood donors on Facebook, and over 100,000 people in blood donation groups. ?Pakistan, like many countries, has a shortage of safe blood. In some cases, this shortage means patients and their families are responsible for finding donors to replace the blood they receive from blood banks or hospitals,? the press release stated. The feature will help bring together donors, non-profit organisations, and health industry to be ?useful to people?. Facebook also launched a similar feature in India and Bangladesh.