Blood donors and those needing transfusions can use a hashtag to post details of their own blood group, enabling them to be matched and put in touch with one another rapidly and unbureaucratically via social media.

Karpat Polat: “Peru has a population of 30,000,000 but only 1,250 voluntary blood donors. A dynamic platform was created for the Red Cross to categorize all volunteers by blood type. The platform has been supported by social media channels and hashtags; #BPOSITIVEPERU #OPOSITIVEPERU etc. The strong strategy is not simply an idea but also shows how social networks can be used to achieve an objective. In this case, it was to increase the database of voluntary blood donors.”