The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday, launched a messaging service with WhatsApp and Facebook partners, to keep people safe from the COVID-19 pandemic.
It said the easy-to-use messaging service had the potential to reach two billion people and enable WHO to get information directly into the hands of the people that needed it.
It indicated that from government leaders to health workers, and family and friends, this messaging service would provide the latest news and information on coronavirus including details on symptoms and how people could protect themselves and others.
The information, which was published on the WHO website on March 20, further explained that the move was also to provide the latest situation reports and numbers in real-time to help government decision-makers protect the health of their populations.
The service, it said, could be accessed through a link that opens a conversation on WhatsApp, and users could simply by typing “hi” to activate the conversation, prompting a menu of options that could help answer their questions about COVID-19.
The WHO Health Alert was developed in collaboration with Praekelt.Org, using Turn machine learning technology.
