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Britain's health service uses long Twitter thread to explain why it needs more black people to donate blood

It's all to do with the Ro subtype.

Gianluca Mezzofiore

on November 8, 2017

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The NHS, Britain's national health service, has launched into a long Twitter thread to explain why it's calling for more black people to donate blood.

Using celebrity GIFs and millennial slang, the Blood and Transplant social media team seemed to be trying to preemptively fend off possible allegations of racism while explaining that blood groups are more or less common in different ethnic groups:

"So black people are more likely to have, say, B negative blood. It’s not to say white or Asian people can’t be B negative, or that all black people are B negative. It just means people from the same ethnic background are more likely to have the same blood groups. And for blood transfusions to work, you need well matched blood groups."

People from Black African and Black Caribbean ethnic backgrounds are also more likely to have the rare subgroup called Ro -- about "ten times more likely than a white person," the NHS said.

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The Ro subtype is vitally important for the management of sickle cell disease.

Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder of haemoglobin, which causes individuals to have abnormal or "sickle-shaped" red blood cells. Patients with this life-threatening disease depend on transfusions for the rest of their lives, hence the need for people with Ro subtype to donate blood.