Mbaza COVID-19 Chatbot
The paucity of pandemic-related reliable information among the citizenry was a central challenge to mitigate and deter the COVID-19 pandemic everywhere. The goal of this solution is the automatisation of the provision of reliable information on COVID-19 across Rwanda.
To provide reliable information about the pandemic, GIZ and the Digital Transformation Center Rwanda joined a consortium of partners to support the development of Mbaza: A chatbot that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide reliable information about COVID-19 across the country in the local language Kinyarwanda, as well as in English and French. The chatbot is accessible via simple cell phone messages that do not require an internet connection. It provides information on current incidence rates, vaccinations, COVID-19 symptoms, recommended behaviours in case of infection and a positive test, applicable restrictions and regulations, prevention methods, test results and certificates.
The consortium of partners includes public institutions such as the National Health Authority, the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) and the Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA), which is in charge of the country’s digital transformation, as well as private sector players. The companies AOS Rwanda, Arxia and the start-up Digital Umuganda, together with the non-profit organizations Seeing Hands Rwanda and the Mozilla Foundation, have participated in the development of the chatbot.