Nigeria requires over 1.8M blood units annually, but only collects about 27% of this to meet annual blood needs for over 500,000 critical care patients (post partum bleeding, sickle cell anemia, road traffic accident victims, cancers) and of this, only 10% comes from voluntary donors, while the rest from paid or family donors (Blood Donation-a Selfless Life-Saving Act., 2023). This shortage significantly contributes to elevated mortality rates associated with blood-related conditions. This challenge stems from a lack of awareness regarding voluntary blood donation, word-of-mouth referrals, manual matching, inadequate screening, recording, storage and delivery systems, which lead to delay, fatigue, increased risks of errors, exploitation and fraudulent activities during the donation process. These issues are further compounded by physical, cultural, and religious limitations, exacerbating the overall situation. The existing system for blood donations and availability in Nigeria are not comprehensively adequate, hence a modern, tech-driven solution is crucial, connecting donors and recipients seamlessly, optimizing the blood supply chain, ensuring safety, and providing support for donors, recipients and the Nigerian health care system.

Our solution concept (LINKiFy) is a dynamic web-app platform designed to bridge the blood demand gap in Nigeria, leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, geo-location and coordinate tracking, as well as utilizing Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), to seamlessly connect voluntary blood donors with recipients at the instance of need, send SOS messages to prompt and facilitate blood products delivery in less time. Key features include: 
1)Smart Matching and Last mile delivery - utilizing advanced algorithms to match donors and recipients based on blood type, location, and other critical criteria; or facilitate blood delivery to last mile populations from USSD prompts. 

2)  Instant Availability - ensuring critical patients get blood promptly, eliminating delays and instantly saving lives; 

3) Community Building & Beneficience - fostering a vibrant community of voluntary donors and recipients, creating a network that cares; with users of the platform also enjoying perks such as positive reinforcements for donors (shopping voucher, food tickets, mini-health insurance), ambassadorial medals, community blood drive campaigns, fitness tracking/services, sexual and reproductive wellness services, and online consultations (at an affordable premium) for other users, making health and wellness accessible to all. 


