Social media platform, Facebook is expanding its Coronavirus Information Centre to 17 more countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria.
The others include Benin Republic; Burkina Faso; Cameroun; Cape Verde; Chad; Cote d’ Ivoire; Ethiopia and Gabon.
The rest are Guinea; Kenya; Mali; Mauritania; Senegal; Seychelles; the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Togo.
The centres form part of the organisation’s efforts to help the global fight against COVID-19 by providing people with the latest news from trusted health authorities as well as resources and tips to stay healthy and support the society.
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information Centre is featured at the top of News Feed that provides a central place for people to keep informed about the epidemic. It includes real-time updates from national health authorities and global organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as helpful articles, videos and posts about social distancing and containment of the virus.
Facebook explained yesterday that users could opt in to follow the centre to get notifications and see updates in their News Feed from official government health authorities.
According to the company’s Head of Public Policy, Africa, Kojo Boakye, “we have built the information centres, in collaboration with national health partners, to ensure that people can get access to information from trusted health sources.”