On Friday, 20th March 2020, World Health Organisation (WHO) launched a messaging service with partners WhatsApp and Facebook to keep people safe from coronavirus.

This easy-to-use messaging service has the potential to reach 2 billion people and enables WHO to get information directly into the hands of the people that need it.

From government leaders to health workers and family and friends, this messaging service will provide the latest news and information on coronavirus including details on symptoms and how people can protect themselves and others. It also provides the latest situation reports and numbers in real time to help government decision-makers protect the health of their populations.

The service can be accessed through a link (http:///who-covid19-whatsapp) that opens a conversation on WhatsApp. Users can simply type “hi” to activate the conversation, prompting a menu of options that can help answer their questions about COVID-19.

The WHO Health Alert was developed in collaboration with Praekelt.Org, using Turn machine learning technology.

Source: https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/who-health-alert-brings-covid-19-facts-to-billions-via-whatsapp

Lalasticlala
mynd44

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This message is a reply. The comment which my argument replies was given in a Coronavirus thread . This reply is valid, factual and does not break any rule of Nairaland.

Jeromejnr:
I have been seeing some deluded Athiest on here bashing religion and saying things like all religions (especially Christianity) are waiting for scientists to find a cure then they will thank God instead of the scientists.

First of all, many of those scientists are Christian's.

Secondly, most of the drugs you enjoy today were discovered by Christians e.g. Penicillin.

Thirdly, Hospitals were first founded by Christians.

Fourthly, United States were most of these cures come from was founded by strong Christian fathers who gave the country a good foundation.

Lastly, Athiests enjoy the benefits of Christian prayers today (although they don't know it). Because of this, most of them are still alive. But with that same breath, they choose to curse God.

So the question is, what has Athiesm contributed to the world?

Not up to Ten centuries ago when modern science was still young, Galileo Galilei, a Catholic, was standing before a criminal court which was also Ecclesiastical (christian bishops were part of the court). Skeptical Galileo had worked on his telescope , he was not lying. He saw that there were other planets and that the Earth revolved around the sun. In his time, religion was mixed with governance and not distinct from the State of Rome.

Galileo, like other scientists of his time , was at the verge of being sentenced to death for apostasy and blasphemy. The government not only beheaded scientists in that dark age, but also hung and burnt them on stake. Why was the Father of Modern Day Astronomy, the one whose foundational argument about the solar system has led to the establishment of space organizations like NASA today, risking a death sentence at a christian court?

The answer is simple. According to Joshua in the Bible when he went to war (would be termed a genocide today) he prayed to God and the "Sun stood still". The christian court argued that if Joshua in the Bible agreed that it was the "sun that stood still" then it means the sun was the moving solar body for nothing that does not move can stand still. The Christian court also argued that David in his Psalms acknowledged that God makes sun to rise from the East and set in the West. How then could a "stupid scientist" argue that the sun does not move . How could such "fool" rather the earth revolves.

There is no doubt that Galileo was a Catholic and a christian. But there is huge doubt that Christianity influenced his breakthrough in science. Christianity wanted to alter , disrupt and hinder his breakthrough. Christianity wanted him dead for apostasy and blasphemy even though he agreed to being a Christian. What do you think would happen if he outrightly said he was not one?

That's the story you do not see. When we talk about science and religion , we are not asking whether a Christian, Muslim , Buddhist or Atheist made a positive breakthrough in science. No, the procedures of science are Universal and as long as a person of any religion , race or gender follows that procedure, he will arrive at a scientific and real conclusion.
When we argue about science and religion we argue whether a telescope or a bible gave humanity initial knowledge about the status of the solar system.

When we argue about science and religion we argue whether it is a hand sanitizer (based on reason) or an anointing oil ( based on faith ) that washes away strains of the Coronavirus in our palms.

Seun, the Founder of this forum, is an atheist. My last paragraph replies yours.

A commendable initiative....Great gesture from WHO, in partnership with Facebook and WhatsApp