BKC’s Yvonne MacPherson explains the lessons the WHO can take from the BBC messaging app.
“At the height of the Ebola crisis, the BBC provided content about three times a day: much of it information from the WHO, the Centers for Disease Control and UNICEF,” writes MacPherson. “WHO’s Health Alert, by contrast, is demand-driven. Users ping the service to request the latest information from the original option list, rather than messages being pushed out at regular intervals. Some may consider this a considerate approach to avoid unwanted spam. But if I’ve been busy for a couple of days and not had a chance to ask the alert what I want to know, it stays silent. Sending me what I need to know each day would keep me better informed.”