(4minutes read)
· A WhatsApp platform developed by the South African company,
Praekelt.org , will provide information on the coronavirus outbreak
across the world
· The platform is developed by Johannesburg-based Praekelt.org.
it is a non profit organization and has been running a program for
South Africa’s health department on maternal well-being
A WhatsApp platform developed by the South African company,
Praekelt.org , will provide information on the coronavirus outbreak
across the world . This platform has been selected by the World
Health Organization (WHO) to reach at least 50 million people around
the globe. This is expected to cleanse large number of misinformation
spread through the Apps. WhatsApp owned by Facebook has more than 2
billion users globally and is the most powerful messaging platform in
the world.
The platform is developed by Johannesburg-based Praekelt.org. it is a
non profit organization and has been running a program for South
Africa’s health department on maternal well-being.
The WhatsApp bot developed by the digital platform uses machine
learning technology to deliver automated information on coronavirus
including travel advice, latest numbers, and symptoms and to dismiss
myths and misconceptions. In South Africa, it has over 2.6 million
users.
WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the WHO
will use the platform extensively to reach out to the people and to
provide the correct information on a real time basis. This will be
called as WHO Health Alert and was launched on March 20, 2020. The
number of people accessing the services has surpassed 10 million in
just three days.
Presently, the Health Alert service is available only in English.
Arabic and Spanish service are expected to be launched soon. WHO has
plans to introduce the alert in more than 20 languages, including
Kiswahili, Farsi and Italian? In recent days, people were trying to
spread wrong information, false claims about cures, unproven
medications etc through WhatsApp. The new initiative is aimed to put a
lid on such wrongful activities. E-commerce companies like Amazon and
Walmart etc had taken a conscious decision to take out unproved
medicines and medical devices from the list of their offerings.
Internet giants like Facebook, Google etc decided not to carry the ads
on products that try to promote claiming wrong or unproven information
on coronavirus.
