Tamzid Rahman: Fighting Thalassemic Child Mortality with BloodLink

Tamzid's Mobile App - BloodLink has helped save over 500 thalassemic children's lives and has reached over 15,000 individuals with blood donations awareness, advocacy and action. BloodLink is Bangladesh's first and largest peer-to-peer blood donation app. 

The winner of Glocal Teen Hero, Bangladesh 2023 – 16 year-old Tamzid Rahman fights for the health rights of thalassemia-infected children in Bangladesh. He has created an app called – BloodLink that helps connect blood donors to recipients, online, completely free of cost. 

Tamzid's changemaking journey started back in 2022, when he received a $250 Mini-Grant from Peace First, which allowed him to establish The Plenty Project. At his first nonprofit, he organized a Mental Health Workshop at Dhaka's St. Joseph Higher Secondary School, hosting 150 student participants, alongside counselors and guest speakers. 

Amidst the dengue outbreak in mid-2022 – Tamzid came up with the idea of developing a peer-to-peer blood donation app, BloodLink, especially connecting parents of thalassemia-infected children to voluntary blood donors, free of cost. 

Since the launch of the app in early-2023, the app has successfully coordinated over 1,000 blood donor-recipient connections. Not only that, the app has so-far supported over 70 families with severe thalassemia and saved about 150 children's lives. 

Tamzid now works with a team of over 70 youth volunteers making them the youngest youth organization officially working with ICT Division of Bangladesh Government. 

To back up the mobile app, Tamzid and his team of volunteers have effectively enlisted 950+ active Blood Donors from all over Dhaka. This comprehensive database not only enables peer-to-peer interactions on their mobile app but also stands as a crucial resource for children suffering from thalassemia and other pediatric medical emergencies.. This ensures that even in remote areas without internet access, swift assistance is available for children in urgent need of life-saving blood transfusions. 

To widen the initiative's reach, Tamzid adopted a strategic approach, with a particular focus on conducting workshops and activations in colleges across the city. Tamzid and his team have developed comprehensive learning materials, featuring a comic book and poster, aimed at dispelling negative perceptions and misconceptions about blood donation among children. Tamzid's learning materials have so-far been screened at over 20 educational institutions, debunking the misconception, myths and stigma around blood donation amidst the new generation in the country. 

The EPU (Emergency Response Unit) of Tamzid's organization has supported over 30 new children's supply of blood donors in the most recent dengue outbreak in mid-2023. Having done workshops/campus activation across the country, Tamzid has profoundly impacted about 4,000 teenagers, inspiring them to actively donate blood. 

Tamzid has managed to so-far raise over $15,000 in grant funding for BloodLink with support from the ICT Division, the Government of Bangladesh, KidsRights Netherlands, The Pollination Project, and Project Nightfall Philanthropy. He is currently working on the new version of his technical infrastructure at BloodLink to further streamline the blood donor-recipient connection process with the secured funds. Tamzid is now a leading child health advocate in Bangladesh working on advocacy and actions towards his goal of a 0% child mortality ratio due to lack of blood transfusion in Bangladesh