Facebook expands coronavirus information centre to Nigeria, 16 other Africa countries

Facebook says it will be expanding its Coronavirus Information Centre to 17 more countries in sub-Saharan African, including Nigeria

Kojo Boakye, Facebook’s Head of Public Policy, Africa, who made the disclosure on Thursday, noted that the information centres form part of Facebook’s effort to help the global fight against the Coronavirus pandemic.

According to him, Facebook will be providing people with the latest news and information from trusted health authorities. “The COVID-19 Information Centre features at the top of news feed that provides central place for people to get informed about the virus.

“It includes real-time update from national health authorities; organisations such as the World Health Organisation; helpful articles, videos and posts about social distancing and preventing the spread of COVID-19.

“Facebook users can opt in to follow the centre to get notifications and see updates in the news feed from official government health authorities, “Boakye said in a statement. He also said that they had already launched the centre in South Africa and would now expand to the sub-Saharan Africa markets."

The head of public policy further said that the centre would be expanded to Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Gabon.

He said other countries were Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Togo, Guinea, Kenya, Mali and Mauritania.

“We have built the centres in collaboration with national health partners to ensure that people can get access to information from trusted health sources."

“The launch of the COVID-19 Information Centre on Facebook in more than 17 countries across sub-Saharan Africa aligns with the commitment to make accurate, timely information about the pandemic accessible to all communities,” Boakye said.