HIGHLIGHTS-
- The walk mission is to spread awareness about blood donation among people.
- Kiran Verma launched the virtual, location-based blood donation mobile website/ application ‘Simply blood’.
- The app serves in connecting blood donors and receivers.
“Donate blood and keep the world-beating”.
According to the World Health Organization, many developing countries are suffering from serious blood scarcity. The need for blood is universal, but the availability to blood for all those who require it is not. To balance the need for blood, regular unpaid voluntary blood donation is a must. It is a form of solidarity that is necessary all over the world.
With the same motive, Delhi man is on a walk mission to aware the public about the importance of Blood Donation. Kiran Verma, a social worker runs a foundation for blood donation so that nobody should die waiting for blood in India. Under the initiative ‘Change with one foundation’, he launched a mobile website/ application named, ‘Simply blood’. The app serves in connecting blood donors and receivers.
How it all does start?
Verma reminisced as he strolled down memory lane and shared, “In December 2016, I gave blood at a hospital after receiving a distress call from a stranger. It wasn’t until I met the recipient’s family that I discovered the blood had been sold to a poor Chhattisgarh patient whose wife had paid ‘1,500 for it. Because of poverty and the effects of demonetization, the woman was forced into prostitution to cover her husband’s medical expenditures. Shattered and enraged by the woman’s condition, I resigned my job as a marketing professional the next day and decided to strive to provide open access to donated blood.”
‘Change with one foundation’
After a year, Verma founded the ‘Change with one foundation’. Through this foundation, he launched the virtual, location-based blood donation mobile/website application ‘Simply blood’. The app serves in connecting blood donors and receivers. So far, the platform has saved around 35,000 lives through blood donation. The social worker, Kiran Verma has donated blood 46 times since the age of 19.
21,000-kilometer walk journey
Kiran is on a mission to encourage voluntary blood donations. He feels that blood donation has declined significantly in the last two years as a result of the pandemic. He says, “I have embarked on a 21,000-kilometer walk journey covering all states and Union Territories. The goal is to raise awareness so that by 2026, no one in India will die while waiting for blood.”
During his solo walk, the social worker inspires the public by organizing open mic sessions or small gatherings with the support of the relevant district administration and blood donation volunteer organizations.
