Blog of Bloodworks Northwest



Bloodpak: Winning the “Women’s Battle” in Africa

In Uganda giving birth is locally called “Orutaro rwabakyara” translated “the women’s battle” and is considered equivalent to a death sentence, largely arising from blood hemorrhage.

Bleeding is the #1 cause of maternal mortality worldwide and takes the lives of 659,000 women in developing nations each year.

The research team at Bloodworks has found a way to help. We invented Bloodpak, an emergency blood transfusion platform to provide transfusion therapy anytime, anywhere. Bloodpak is a self-contained, just-in-time method of blood delivery that provides all of the supplies, point-of-care blood tests to ensure safe transfusion, and clinical decision support to guide the process on a smartphone. This medical innovation fits in a backpack and simplifies delivery by eliminating the cold chain and storage time-dependencies. It leverages innovation in blood testing and mobile technology to make blood transfusions in the field using local real-time donors possible.

Now our challenge is, how can we increase blood transfusion utilization and enable health systems to adopt Bloodpak as a solution?

We’ve been fast at work, and Bloodpak is now a finalist in the Kenya County Innovation Challenge Fund.

A part of a five-year programme funded by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID), the Kenya County Innovation Challenge Fund supports the Government of Kenya’s efforts to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality in partnership with UNICEF, Marie Stopes International / Options Consultancy Services Limited (Options), the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), and others.

As a finalist, we are in Nairobi and able to collaborate with local partners so that we can mobilize Bloodpak into communities and provide life-saving treatment to patients in Kenya.

To learn more about Bloodwork Northwest’s Bloodpak research innovation visit Bloodpak.org

Linda Barnes Bloodpak

Follow us on Twitter to receive real time updates from our Chief Operating Officer Linda Barnes at the Kenya County Innovation Challenge Fund.

February 27, 2017 12:12PM

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