How Temie Giwa-Tubosun Is Using Her One Percent Project And Lifebank App To Improve Maternal Healthcare

Temie Giwa-Tubosun is the founder and CEO of One Percent Project, a social enterprise dedicated to ensuring that Nigerians, especially women and children, have access to safe blood when they need it.

The passion for maternal health care was birthed the day Temie met a woman who almost died during child birth and then she decided to do something which could reduce the rate of maternal mortality in Nigeria.

Since the second highest reason why Nigerian women die during childbirth is due to haemorrhage, Temie figured she could help address this by ensuring that blood was available to women who wanted to give birth.

And that was how the One Percent Project was born.

Launched in 2012, the One Percent Project serves as a platform that drives voluntary blood donation in Nigeria while educating people on the importance of donating blood.

Temie also encountered some difficulty while giving birth to her first child and this inspired the creation of LifeBank app.

The LifeBank web application helps to connect blood donors to patients in need of blood transfusion during emergencies. It also helps to save time by providing the access to potential blood donors.

LifeBank has also helped blood banks to be available all over Lagos, and it allows health centres to find the relevant blood types and order for delivery.

In 2014 Giwa was listed as one of the BBC 100 Women.

Speaking on the topic, “Healthcare is a Right” at a TEDx Talk she gave in 2016, Temie said,

“Here’s one thing I know for sure, that every mother deserves a chance to watch her kid grow. It has been a fact that has pushed me in the direction of what I do today. I really believe that the process of giving birth and raising children should be a happy event for a mother and the idea that thousands of women in our continent do not get the chance to watch their children grow affects me in a deep way.”