I’m thinking of everyone in India and hoping we get this virus under control soon. Facebook is working with UNICEF to help people understand when they should go to the hospital and giving $10 million to emergency response efforts. More soon and I hope you stay healthy, says Mark Zuckerberg,
As India grapples with the current wave of COVID-19, we are committed to doing our bit to support local communities in the country with medical supplies and other life saving equipment. Earlier this week, Mark announced a $10 million grant for emergency response efforts in light of the COVID-19 situation in the country. We are partnering with organizations such as United Way, Swasth, Hemkunt Foundation, I Am Gurgaon, Project Mumbai and US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) to deploy these funds to help augment critical medical supplies with 5000+ oxygen concentrators and other life-saving equipments like ventilators, BiPAP machines and to increase hospital bed capacity.
In addition, our effort is to give people access to authoritative information about COVID-19 symptoms and vaccines by:
- Partnering with the Government of India, Facebook will begin rolling out this week its Vaccine Finder tool on the Facebook mobile app in India. Available in 17 languages, the tool will help people identify places nearby to get the vaccine. In this tool, vaccine centre locations and their hours of operation have been provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. The tool will also show walk-in options (for 46 years and above) and a link to register on the CoWin website and schedule your vaccination appointment. You can access the tool in the COVID-19 Information Center.
- Supporting NGOs and UN agencies in India with ad credits and insights to reach the majority of people on Facebook with COVID-19 vaccine and preventive health information.
- Providing health resources to people from UNICEF India about when to seek emergency care and how to manage mild COVID-19 symptoms at home. The information is accessible and prominent on Facebook’s COVID-19 Information Center and in Feed. On Instagram, we are promoting this information via Guides in Explore.
