The Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Ministry of Information and Communication, Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) and partners have launched two free mobile services to help citizens of Sierra Leone to keep up to date on COVID-19 developments.
The services can be accessed 24 hours a day across all districts in the country and aim to provide a self-check for symptoms, prevention tips, and updates on COVID-19 cases in Sierra Leone.
The initiative is a response by the government emergency technical response team to develop and incorporate COVID-19 public health information into the Government of Sierra Leone’s public information system.
The team is made of up experts from the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), UNICEF, the Emergency Operations Centre, Ministry of Information and Communication, Ministry of Health and Sanitation, other government agencies and private sector partners.
Sierra Leoneans can now call *468# or use SMS text 468 for free from any phone on the Africell and Orange telecommunication networks. No internet connection is needed to make calls or send SMS.
Text “Check” to 468 for self-check services
Text “Symptoms” to 468 to find out more about the symptoms of COVID-19
Text “Tips” to 468 to learn about prevention tips
Text “Updates” to 468 for updates on COVID-19 cases, deaths and quarantine guidelines.
The *468# number can be used to access information on government facilities and services within districts, including ‘find my nearest hospital’. The Ministry of Health and Sanitation has encouraged all Sierra Leoneans to call the national helpline 117 to report any health-related emergencies or alerts.
Read more about the self-check service on the DSTI website here.
of Sierra Leone poster 2020