WhatsApp deployed as AIDS, TB raise S. Africa’s coronavirus risk

After a team from the department and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases provided the content and with help from WhatsApp, the service launched on March 4. It now has two million users in South Africa and about 100,000 inquiries an hour. — Reuters

About two weeks ago Praekelt.org, a non-profit foundation that runs a WhatsApp service on maternal wellbeing for South Africa’s Health Department, proposed setting up a similar program to keep people informed about the coronavirus.

After a team from the department and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases provided the content and with help from WhatsApp, the service launched on March 4. It now has two million users in South Africa and about 100,000 inquiries an hour.