A Whatsapp App Page Is Seen On Facebook On A Samsung Galaxy S4 Phone
A Whatsapp App page is seen on Facebook on a Samsung Galaxy S4 phone in the central Bosnian town of Zenica, February 20, 2014. Facebook Inc will buy fast-growing mobile-messaging startup WhatsApp for $19 billion in cash and stock in a landmark deal that places the world's largest social network closer to the heart of mobile communications and may bring younger users into the fold. Reuters/Dado Ruvic

According to the World Health Organization the Ebola outbreak has taken almost 4,500 lives in West Africa. The worst affected countries are Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Several experiments are being conducted to find a treatment for the deadly disease that is spreading. There is no specific cure for the disease. Efforts are being made to help those infected and to curb the spread of the virus.

In an attempt to stop the spread BBC has made use of the most popular and widely used chat app in Africa. BBC is employing WhatsApp to spread awareness, send out information and help those in the most affected areas. Peter Horrocks, director of BBC World Service, told Mashable, "It's a situation where information will literally save lives."

Due to this a new information service for the benefit of public health will use WhatsApp as a means to send alerts via text messages audio and images to its users. This is to benefit those in the worst affected regions of West Africa and also those in the comparatively lesser affected places as well. Mashable reported that the app was chosen for the service due to its reach and easy use. It could be used on older phones and on newer feature phones as well. And messages can be sent easily without consuming huge amount of data.

Horrocks said that the information must be what people can trust and one that is reliable as well, keeping in mind the bandwidth. "It must be easily digestible and doesn't consume a lot of bandwidth," he said. In his statement he also threw light on the many myths that exist about Ebola and these he stated was life threatening. To stop this he stated that since BBC is the most trusted and reliable source and the people are well aware of it in the affected regions they are coming forward to help them. He stated that whether it's through the radio or the television or chat apps, BBC is making an effort to reach as many people as possible and spread the right kind of information that would help them.

Content will be made available three times a day in English and French. CSMonitor reported that the information would be made available on all the handsets and even to those who cannot read English or French. One can subscribe by sending 'JOIN' via WhatsApp to +44 7702 348 651. To unsubscribe, one can send 'STOP' via WhatsApp to the same number.

BBC on its website informed the readers that sometimes it may take a while for the service to get activated or deactivated due to a huge number of requests.