Utilizing technology in the battle against COVID-19 in Africa

“COVID-19 is a disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus. ‘CO’ stands for
corona, ‘VI’ for virus, and ‘D’ for disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to as ‘2019 novel
coronavirus’ or ‘2019-nCoV.’ The COVID-19 virus is a new virus linked to the same family of
viruses as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and some types of common cold.”

Information flow and information sharing at a time of social distancing
The current crisis of COVID-19 needs both a public health response and an information-sharing
response. Providing accurate information to the public about COVID-19 is a challenge to the
world as a whole, and the African continent in particular as governments and various actors
work on containing the spread of the virus mainly through social distancing measures. The
delivery and exchange of critical information on a mass scale continue to be a huge challenge
since most citizens are restricted to staying at their homes the whole day. Mobile technology
might be the best method to provide actionable information to the public on a mass scale at this
time, Africa has seen massive growth in the use of mobile technology over the past few years;
with Subsaharan Africa having 764,213,747 mobile subscribers as of 2018.

 

About #CheckCOVID

#CheckCOVID is a rapid information response platform that utilizes technology to create
awareness, dispel misinformation and provide practical advice on how to prevent COVID-19 in
Africa. It has emerged out of #211Check which is a pilot currently being rolled out in South
Sudan that is using the same framework.

For more Download #CheckCOVID PDF : Link Here