Egypt and Facebook unite for blood donation campaign to boost supplies

A man shops at a market in the Cairo suburb of Maadi. (File/Reuters)
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Updated 12 June 2020
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Egypt and Facebook unite for blood donation campaign to boost supplies

  • Director of Health Ministry’s National Blood Transfusion Banks says donation a ‘national and moral’ duty

CAIRO: The Egyptian Ministry of Health said on Thursday it is working with Facebook to encourage blood donations in the country.

Health Minister Dr. Hala Zayed confirmed that national blood transfusion centers would represent the ministry in the Facebook project.

She said that the campaign would help to encourage those who have recovered from coronavirus to donate their blood plasma to help in the treatment of critical condition patients.

Egypt has had successful trials in which coronavirus patients were injected with the blood of those who have recovered.

Anyone above the age of 18 and below the age of 65 can register on Facebook as a donor and they will receive a message from the closest blood transfusion center stating they are now a donor. The donor can also invite friends to donate their blood.

People can use the “donate blood” feature on their personal accounts or by clicking on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/donateblood.

BACKGROUND

Health Minister Dr. Hala Zayed said that the campaign would help to encourage those who have recovered from coronavirus to donate their blood plasma to help in the treatment of critical condition patients.

Those who register will receive messages on their mobiles from the 28 branches of Egypt’s blood transfusion centers regarding requests and donation opportunities. Five of the centers are allocated for blood plasma donations from those who have recovered from coronavirus. Details about the centers can be found on the official website of the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population.

Facebook posted that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the number of blood donors leading to an acute shortage of blood. People did not know where or how to donate blood, while the precautionary measures of self-isolation and social distancing were also having an impact.

Dr. Ehab Serag El-Din, director of the ministry’s National Blood Transfusion Banks, said that Facebook had activated the donation feature and that the update had come out on Wednesday.

He emphasized the importance of blood donations during this critical period and reiterated that all preventive and precautionary measures were being taken to guarantee the safety of donors. He said that such a partnership was a major step toward trying to reach the level of donations needed and the sufficient amount of blood needed to support the Egyptian health system.

He added that Luxor was the second governorate to assist those who have recovered from coronavirus to donate plasma.

“By the end of next week most of the five regional blood banks which were specifically allocated for this purpose will be receiving those who have recovered from the coronavirus,” he told Arab News. “We will not force those who have recovered to donate. However, it is their national and moral duty.”

Facebook’s public policy manager in Egypt, Nashwa Gad, said she was proud of the collaboration with the ministry. She also talked about the importance of the partnership, which comes as part of the platform’s efforts to support health authorities during the health crisis, and hailed a previous project between the ministry and Facebook to raise awareness about the virus.

She said that the donation campaign would help those who wanted to donate blood to receive all the correct health information and guidelines about the process.

Earlier this week a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said there was the possibility of a second wave of coronavirus in a number of countries. 

Maha Talat, the regional antimicrobial adviser for the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, cited Iran as an example, where infections have surged again. She said that Egypt was still in the middle of the first wave, which had not yet subsided, and that another wave might hit the country after this one.


France in communication to maintain Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire, Lebanese statement citing Macron says

Updated 57 min 37 sec ago
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France in communication to maintain Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire, Lebanese statement citing Macron says

  • Aoun asked Macron to oblige Israel to implement the agreement to preserve stability

CAIRO: French President Emmanuel Macron told his new Lebanese counterpart Joseph Aoun in a phone call that he is in communication to maintain the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, according to a statement by the Lebanese President’s office on X.
Aoun asked Macron to oblige Israel to implement the agreement to preserve stability.
The phone call comes after the Israeli army on Saturday warned residents of dozens of Lebanese villages near the border against returning until further notice, a day after Israel said its forces would remain in south Lebanon beyond a Sunday deadline for their departure under the US-brokered ceasefire that ended last year’s war.


70 freed and ‘deported’ Palestinian prisoners reach Egypt

Updated 25 January 2025
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70 freed and ‘deported’ Palestinian prisoners reach Egypt

  • According to Israeli list, more than 230 Palestinian prisoners to be released under the deal are serving life sentences
  • They will be permanently expelled from the Palestinian territories upon their release

CAIRO: Seventy Palestinian prisoners arrived aboard buses in Egypt Saturday after being released from Israel as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal, state-linked Egyptian media reported.
Al-Qahera News, which is linked to state intelligence, said the prisoners were those “deported” by Israel, adding they would be transferred to Egyptian hospitals for treatment.
According to a list previously made public by Israeli authorities, more than 230 Palestinian prisoners to be released under the deal are serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis, and will be permanently expelled from the Palestinian territories upon their release.
Broadcasted footage on Saturday showed some of the prisoners, wearing grey tracksuits, disembarking from two buses on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.
After transiting in Egypt, the deported prisoners “will choose either Algeria, Turkiye or Tunisia” to reside, Amin Shuman, head of the Palestinian prisoners’ affairs committee, told AFP.
“It’s an indescribable feeling,” one of those released told Al-Qahera News, smiling and waving from the window of the bus.
The prisoners transferred from the Ktziot prison in Israel’s Negev desert into Egypt are part of a group of 200 prisoners released Saturday in exchange for four Israeli hostages freed by Hamas militants in Gaza.


Police kill a man who set himself on fire outside a Tunisian synagogue

Updated 25 January 2025
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Police kill a man who set himself on fire outside a Tunisian synagogue

  • The man advanced toward a law enforcement officer while ablaze, and a second officer opened fire to protect his colleague
  • The officer was hospitalized with burns, as was a passerby

TUNIS: A man set himself on fire in front of the Grand Synagogue in the Tunisian capital and was killed by police, the Interior Ministry said. A police officer and a passerby suffered burns.
The man started the fire after sundown Friday, around the time the synagogue holds Sabbath prayers.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that the man advanced toward a law enforcement officer while ablaze, and a second officer opened fire to protect his colleague. The officer was hospitalized with burns, as was a passerby, the statement said.
The ministry did not release the man’s identity or potential motive for his act, saying only that he had unspecified psychiatric disorders.
Tunisia was historically home to a large Jewish population, now estimated to number about 1,500 people. Jewish sites in Tunisia have been targeted in the past.
A national guardsman killed five people at the 2,600-year-old El-Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba after an annual pilgrimage in 2023. Later that year, pro-Palestinian protesters vandalized a historic synagogue and sanctuary in the southern town of El Hamma. And a garden was set ablaze last year outside the synagogue in the coastal city of Sfax.
Tunisia’s recent history was also marked by the self-immolation of a street vendor in 2010 in a protest linked to economic desperation, corruption and repression. Mohamed Bouazizi’s act unleashed mass protests that led to the ouster of Tunisia’s autocratic ruler and uprisings across the region known as the Arab Spring.


‘We cannot forget Sudan’ amid ‘hierarchy of conflicts’: UK FM

Updated 25 January 2025
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‘We cannot forget Sudan’ amid ‘hierarchy of conflicts’: UK FM

  • David Lammy: ‘If this was happening on any other continent there would be far more outrage’
  • About half of Sudan’s population face acute food insecurity, according to UN

LONDON: The humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan must not be forgotten amid a “hierarchy of conflicts” in the world, the UK’s foreign secretary has warned.

Writing in The Independent, David Lammy called for renewed international attention on the 21-month-long civil war. The humanitarian disaster from the war will be “one of the biggest of our lifetime,” he said.

Since the conflict began in April 2023, almost 4 million people have fled Sudan and fighting has killed more than 15,000, according to conservative estimates.

Lammy visited a refugee camp for displaced Sudanese in neighboring Chad this week. “I bore witness to what will go down in history as one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes of our lifetimes,” he said.

“The truth no one wants to admit is that if this was happening on any other continent — in Europe, in the Middle East, or in Asia — there would be far more attention from the media — far more outrage. There should be no hierarchy of conflicts, but sadly much of the world acts as if there is one.”

About half of Sudan’s population — more than 24 million people — face acute food insecurity, the latest UN figures show.

The Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces remain locked in a battle for control of the country and its resources.

Lammy praised the work of the country’s neighbors — including Egypt, Chad and South Sudan — in helping to manage the crisis.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, warned last week that the war is taking an “even more dangerous turn for civilians.”

On Thursday, the UN Human Rights Office reported that about 120 civilians were killed and more than 150 injured in drone attacks across the city of Omdurman.

Lammy said: “The world cannot continue to shrug its shoulders. There can be no hierarchy of suffering. We cannot forget Sudan.”

The UK has pledged $282 million in aid to almost 800,000 displaced people in Sudan. The funding will supply emergency food assistance and drinking water, among other relief.


Israel blocks Gazans’ return to territory’s north unless civilian woman hostage freed

Updated 25 January 2025
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Israel blocks Gazans’ return to territory’s north unless civilian woman hostage freed

  • ‘Israel will not allow the passage of Gazans to the northern part of the Gaza Strip until the release of civilian Arbel Yehud’

JERUSALEM: Israel said on Saturday it would block the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza until civilian woman hostage Arbel Yehud is released.
“Israel will not allow the passage of Gazans to the northern part of the Gaza Strip until the release of civilian Arbel Yehud, who was supposed to be released today, is arranged,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, “Hamas did not comply with the agreement on its obligation to return civilian females first.”
Two Hamas sources said that Yehud was “alive and in good health.”
A Hamas source said that she will be “released as part of the third swap set for next Saturday,” February 1.
Earlier on Saturday four Israeli women soldiers held captive in Gaza were released by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.