The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) Launches COVID-19 Website and Mobile App
Imagine a group of more than 90 lecturers, students, local and international professionals coming together to make the world a better place, particularly now in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fake news is one of the factors that has proven to be a serious threat to efforts being made by health professionals. For this reason, amongst others, a website and an Android Mobile Application have been developed to provide factual and essential information about the outbreak of COVID-19 in Namibia.
Above: An excerpt of the website www.covid19namibia.comSeveral virtual hackathon projects are currently underway, where NUST lecturers and students, local and international professionals have teamed up to develop technology responses to Namibia’s COVID-19 challenges. These national platforms contain news, statistics, advice and tips, testing centres, frequently asked questions, official circulars and other general information about the pandemic.
The teams ensure they practice social distancing by working remotely and connecting via a variety of internet communication platforms. The virtual hackathon kicked off on 18 March 2020 at NUST.
The team behind the scenes
The team comprises of staff and students from NUST’s Faculty of Computing and Informatics (FCI), as well as other local and international experts from various organisations. The developer leads of the website and Mobile App are FCI staff members, namely, Ms Ndinelago Nashandi, Mr Herman Kandjiimi, Ms Josephina Muntuumo and Prof Jose Quenum, with the Dean, Prof Anicia Peters, as the overall coordinator.
Other projects include misin-formation and sentiment analysis on social media, a self-reporting application to report symptoms, and a map indicating locations of testing and help centres. A big data approach is being used for predictive modelling to gauge the possible implications of the virus on Namibia.
The website is accessible at www.covid19namibia.com(link is external)
The Namibia COVID-19 Android App can be downloaded from shorturl. at/dlS67 or by scanning this QR code.