South Africa's Cellular Health Application Gives Corona Information Access to Millions of Citizens

The WhatsApp-based application developed by a South African organization gives millions of people access to the latest corona virus information worldwide

When the virus spread, Praekelt.org created digital tools for people in developing countries so that their health and welfare improved. One of the most successful is MomConnect, a cellular service for pregnant women to get important information about pregnancy and connect them to a number of services.

Gustav Praekelt, founder of Praekelt.org, observed something similar to the need for information about the corona virus. The South African government provides hotline numbers, but is unable to serve large numbers of calls and disinformation that spreads quickly.

"We are worried that the application users do not have access to reliable sources of information," Praekelt told VOA.

 "So people hear rumors and stories that panic and worry about what needs to be done, to keep themselves healthy, especially as regional quarantine starts to take effect. "

The WhatsApp-based COVID-19 Health Warning application is a channel that offers help with the latest data and automatic responses to common questions in various languages. In the first 10 days, the application reached 3.5 million users. The With the World Health Organization (WHO), Praekelt created a similar program to reach individuals globally.

One of its main objectives is to fight disinformation related to pandemics.