With billions of people worldwide having no access to the Internet, a new initiative aims to leverage text messaging to disseminate Covid-19-related information to those remaining on the edges of connectivity.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), with support from the United Nations Children’s Fund, are working with telecommunications companies to text people directly on their mobile phones with vital health messaging to help protect them from Covid-19.

“Now, more than ever, technology must ensure that everyone can access the information they need. Covid-19 is the first pandemic in human history where technology and social media are being used on a massive scale to keep people safe, productive and connected, while being physically apart,” the partners say.

Countries, companies and individuals are rapidly turning to digital technologies to respond to and cope with the impact of Covid-19.

However, an estimated 3.6-billion people remain offline, mostly in low-income countries, where an average of just two out of every ten people are online.

The collaboration, which will start in the Asia-Pacific region and then roll out globally, will use text messaging to reach billions of people who are not able to connect to the Internet for information.

The aim is to reach everyone with vital health messages, whatever their connectivity level.

The initiative builds on current efforts to disseminate health messages through the joint WHO-ITU BeHe@lthy BeMobile initiative, as most low- and middle-income countries face a double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and strained healthcare systems.

Heart diseases, strokes, cancers, diabetes and chronic lung diseases cause an estimated 36-million deaths every year, the WHO says.

The ITU and the WHO are working to identify and scale the best evidence-based digital health solutions and leverage frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and Big Data to diagnose, contain and predict outbreaks better and faster.

The joint project uses cost-effective mobile technology, in particular text messaging and apps, to help member states combat the growing burden of NCDs.

“Mobile phones have already been successfully used in different health fields, improving access to health services, training health workers and assisting individuals to manage their diseases.

“With billions of people confined at home, a global economy in dire straits and countless precious lives in the balance, the response to the Covid-19 pandemic is everybody’s responsibility,” the parties reiterate.