New campaign launched to encourage youth donate blood in Ramadan

CAIRO - 19 May 2018: Facebook’s Hack for Good initiative launched Thursday a new campaign for blood donation called “Giving is in your blood”; the campaign aims to increase blood donations throughout Ramadan.

As part of the initiative, Facebook partners, with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) across 12 countries in MENA, including Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Egypt, aim to enhance the culture of blood donation in those countries.
Facebook’s Hack for Good initiative aims to develop technological solutions to address real social challenges.

In a celebration of young creative talent in the region, Facebook invited five teams of young professionals from creative agencies across MENA to spend an entire day at the Facebook MENA HQ, brainstorming and preparing their proposed ideas. The teams then presented their campaigns to address the IFRC’s goal to boost blood donations in the Holy Month to a panel of judges, including key regional executives from Facebook and the IFRC.

In Ramadan, blood banks often are in short supply, creating a need to foster more voluntary blood donations. To urge more to donate their blood during Ramadan, "Giving is in your blood" aims to direct people to give blood at the authorized blood donating centers to step up blood donation during the summer season when a shortfall is expected. People who are fasting can donate blood, but only after they have broken their fast at sunset. This drive will give people the power to build more powerful and meaningful communities.

Speaking about the initiative, Christine Harb, regional head of marketing - MENAP, Facebook, said: “As we prepare to celebrate the Holy Month of Ramadan with our community this year, we also wanted to shed light on the reality of decreased blood donations this month in the region, while using Facebook as a tool to bring people together for a good cause.”

“We hope this campaign will help fill the gap in blood donations that we normally see during Ramadan. We are encouraging people to donate blood after they have broken their fast at sunset. We are also hoping to recruit blood donors who might start donating in Ramadan and maybe continue throughout the year,” Rana Sidani Cassou, IFRC MENA head of communications stated.