IMPROVING LIVES

TEMIE GIWA-TUBOSON

LIFEBANK, NIGERIA

Each year, Nigeria loses 37,000 pregnant women and 152,000 anaemic children due to blood shortages. Often, the problem is in getting the blood to the right people at the right time. When Temie Giwa-Tuboson learned that donor blood was discarded after a short shelf life of a few weeks, she started LifeBank.

Since its inception in 2016, LifeBank has brought vital medical supplies to those most in need. The company gathers inventory data from 60 blood suppliers in Lagos each day, and hospitals tell it how much blood they need. Then blood is delivered by motorcycles, boats or drones. Day or night, LifeBank can send blood to any hospital in its service area within 55 minutes. Since its launch, it has not only transported 155,569 units of blood and other medical products, but also saved more than 40,000 lives.