COVID-19: Facebook expands information centre to 24 African countries

Facebook said it would expand its Coronavirus Information Centre to 24 more countries in Africa as part of its commitment to empower people around the world.

Kojo Boakye, Facebook’s Head of Public Policy, Africa, who made the disclosure on Friday said the expansion of centres would empower people around the world with timely and accurate news from trusted health authorities.

According to him, the COVID-19 information centre features at the top of the news feed and provides a central place for people to get informed about the virus.

“The centre includes real-time updates from national official sources, regional and global organisations such as the Africa Center for Disease Control and World Health Organisation as well as helpful resources, articles and tips about social distancing.

“Facebook is supporting the public health community’s work across the world to keep all communities informed during the Coronavirus pandemic.

“We are happy to provide nearly every country in Sub-Saharan Africa with its own Information Centre, so people across the continent have a central place to find authoritative information around COVID-19,” Boakye said in statement.

He said the additional countries where Facebook was launching the Coronavirus Information Centre included: Botswana, Burundi, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini and Gambia.

Boakye said other countries are: Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, RwandaSao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“The Coronavirus Information Centre is already in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Gabon.

“Others are Guinea, Kenya, Mali Mauritania, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal , Seychelles, South Africa, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Togo,” Boakye said.