Doctors Without Border (MSF) challenges COVID-19 myths with new quiz challenge app

Taking the form of an interactive quiz challenge, users of the COVID Challenge app are presented with a range of colourfully illustrated scenarios and given a choice of ways to respond. The topics covered are practical and wide-ranging, including how to interact with someone with COVID symptoms, how to share a bathroom when self-isolating, and how to handle food to minimise the risk of spreading the virus.

The app is available for both Android and IOS systems and is free to use; once downloaded it can be played offline, making it accessible to people with no regular internet connection.

“We hope to attract a young, tech-savvy generation of users who will engage with the game as an entertaining challenge and at the same time acquire useful knowledge that will induce changes in behaviour,” says MSF medical innovation coordinator Abiy Tamrat.

The concept for the app came from a quiz challenge game developed by MSF in 2019 during the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo to help patients and their families manage Ebola and to counter misinformation about the disease.

“Misinformation and rumours are also widespread about COVID and our aim with the app is to prevent this,” says Tamrat. “It worked for Ebola and we hope it will work for COVID too.” The health messages presented in the app are based on MSF medical protocols and World Health Organization recommendations.

Tamrat envisages that the COVID Challenge app will be used by families and communities across the 70-plus countries worldwide where MSF works – and beyond. The app is available for both Android and IOS systems and is free to use; once downloaded it can be played offline, making it accessible to people with no regular internet connection.

One feature on the app reads the quiz questions out loud, so it can be used by people with a visual impairment or who cannot read. Currently it is available in English, French, Arabic and Spanish, and there are plans to introduce additional languages.

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About Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

Responding to global health emergencies is in our blood. We are an international medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid in more than 70 countries to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from health care. Nearly all of our medical operations have been affected by COVID-19. We’re responding directly to the pandemic: caring for patients, reaching out to communities with health and safety tips, and training health workers on vital infection prevention and control measures.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams need your solidarity now more than ever. We have set up a COVID-19 Crisis Fund to enable a direct response to the COVID-19 emergency and prepare for the consequences of the outbreak on our current projects in South Africa and abroad. Our teams are on high alert and active in more than 60 countries worldwide. To find out more about how you can help us raise funds please click on this link: https://www.msf.org.za/covid-19-crisis-fund.#UniteWithoutBorders