Source of online river of life

EVANS MURIU was so moved by the loss of lives due to lack of blood donations that he set up the Wananchi Initiative, which connects blood donors and recipients online. He spoke to JOAN BARSULAI.

Evans Muriu will not soon forget the day he decided he had seen enough people die needlessly. He was seated in his office, long after working hours, reading about yet another life lost because the patient could not get a blood donation in time.

The businessman had heard these stories countless times before, but this time was different; he felt compelled to do something to reverse the morbid trend. He made up his mind then and there to bridge the gap between those who need blood and blood donors.

“I had to act fast. I did not have the luxury of indulging in blame games or sending recommendations or requests to the Government. I saw it fit to try address the problem using a simple approach,” says Evans.

As the idea gelled, it occurred to him that if he had the contacts of people with a certain blood group in a certain area, it would be easy to help someone in need of that blood type in that locale. That night, in June 2011, the Wanadamu Initiative was birthed.

Wanadamu, which is the first of a kind online blood bank in Kenya, seeks to bridge the gap between those in need of blood and blood donors by maintaining a database of willing donors, who are called upon when there is someone in need. Evans gets blood appeals through social media, the hotline or email. His team of seven volunteers verifies the information, and contacts donors who then make their way to the hospital to donate blood.

Evans, a keen businessman and philanthropist, has always sought to make the lives of those in need better. A middle child, he was born in the mid 1980s into a family of three children.

“My mother tells stories of how, from when I was a little boy, I was always helping people out. I discovered early on that many people who need help don’t get what they need, because of circumstances, how they communicate their problems, their surrounding or lack of exposure. And my work is to bridge that gap.”

This bridge was partly realised through Wanadamu. On July 4, 2011, a few days after contemplating its possibilities, Evans went live with the project, and on July 8, it was put to the test.

Through the initiative, people in need have received blood in the shortest duration possible. This saves the patients from prolonged suffering and pain as they wait for a transfusion.

“We have helped families who have donated blood to their loved ones, but it is not enough. There are cases where people have had surgery dates pushed because blood was unavailable. The initiative has also made work easier for some doctors and emergency responders, who contact us when blood is needed,” says Evans.

Their first patient in dire need came from Avenue Park, Parklands, and urgently required AB+ type blood. Wanadamu contacted donors, who then proceeded to the hospital.

Word spread, and more appeals continued to come forth. As the need increased, so did the supply. In one case, the number of donors who turned up was so high that the hospital had to turn some down, and even contacted the Wanadamu team to tell them to stop sending people.

The most memorable appeal for Evans was sent out by Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital last September, asking for blood for a baby, Adams Kibet, who needed donation from a whopping 25 donors. Panic-stricken, Evans was doubtful that his team would be able to achieve that number. Fortunately, after contacting several people, the hospital received all the blood that was needed, and in four days, Baby Adams was well enough to go home.

As of January, the Wanadamu Initiative had successfully responded to 1,276 appeals, with beneficiaries in 24 hospitals around the country. They have also attended to two blood appeals in Uganda. More than 17,000 people have registered as donors.

HOW IT WORKS

There are many Kenyans who, if given the chance, are willing to donate blood. Yet, as Evans points out, most blood banks do not have sufficient blood.

“Even when there is blood, hospitals do not take the initiative to go and collect it. The Kenyan blood bank system does not flow smoothly, and as a result, patients lose their lives,” he says.

This is where the Wanadamu Initiative comes in handy. While the request for blood donation can be unpredictable, with many potential donors not receiving these requests in time, the idea of having an online database becomes viable.

Willing donors are encouraged to sign up on the online database free of charge. Donors who do not know their blood groups sign up as ‘unknown’, and donate to universal recipients.

Blood goes bad in 35 days, and Wanadamu lacks storage equipment, so donations are only made when need arises. As soon as Evans and his team receive an appeal, they go through the database to identify matching donors, who are then contacted and requested to make their way to the hospital.

The project runs on a low cost budget, and the only money Evans spends is on airtime, whenever he needs to inform donors that they are needed. The team contacts donors living near the health facility where there is a need, so transport costs are usually low.

The system is, therefore, greatly reliant on goodwill and humanity. It is also greatly dependent on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, through which appeals are sent and donors sought. For instance, when there was an explosion at the Machakos Country Bus Station, an appeal was sent out for a child who urgently needed AB+, a rare blood type. Evans sent out an appeal on the social network, because he could not find a donor on the database, and within a few hours, he received more than 500 messages from willing donors from all over the country. Such is the willingness of Kenyans to be of help.

Despite the success of his brainchild, Evans grapples with a few challenges: “The biggest challenge is patience. When we receive an appeal, after verifying data, we contact donors, and then they make their way to the hospital. No matter how urgent the need, we can’t push anyone beyond this, and the wait can be nail-biting. However, I believe that donors do all they can to respond in the shortest duration possible.

“People also need to understand Wanadamu’s motivation. We don’t do this to make money; our services are free. There are bodies in this field who feel threatened by our existence, and yet they are not open to partnerships.”

His constant worry is the fact that O- and A- blood groups are rare, and he fears that they might, someday, fail to meet the needs of patients with this type of blood, although this has never happened.

He also points out that some hospitals are not cooperative. “Hospitals do not willingly give us information about patients who need help, so we usually have to take the initiative to contact the hospitals ourselves.”

Regardless, Evans continues to forge ahead. He has replicated the Wanadamu Initiative in Ghana, and plans to expand to other African countries: “I would rather try and fail than let the fear of failure weigh me down. My greatest achievement is leaving someone in a better state than I found them.”