COVID Challenge app : A new quiz challenge app to counteract misinformation around COVID-19

A new app that encourages people to behave safely if someone in their family or community catches COVID-19 has been launched by international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in association with software developer Pixel Impact. Together they worked to develop a humanitarian game that allows people to understand what behaviours to adopt to protect themselves from the disease while helping to stop the evolution of the pandemic.

Taking the form of an interactive quiz challenge, users of the COVID Challenge app are presented with a range of colourfully illustrated scenarios and given a choice of ways to respond. The topics covered are practical and wide-ranging, including how to interact with someone with COVID symptoms, how to share a bathroom when self-isolating, and how to handle food to minimise the risk of spreading the virus. 

It was developed to counteract misinformation around COVID-19 and promote safe and healthy practice by people facing the challenge of disinformation that was widely shared about COVID-19 at community level. Targeting those who are familiar with digital tools, the game was designed to pass evidence-based and practical messages that help communities gain knowledge and practice behaviours to help prevent the spread of the outbreak. The quiz-based structure of the game is intended to improve retention and engagement of users.  

“We hope to attract a young, tech-savvy generation of users who will engage with the game as an entertaining challenge and at the same time acquire useful knowledge that will induce changes in behaviour,” says MSF medical innovation coordinator Abiy Tamrat.

The concept for the app came from a quiz challenge game developed by MSF in 2019 during the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo to help patients and their families manage Ebola and to counter misinformation about the disease.  

“Misinformation and rumours are also widespread about COVID and our aim with the app is to prevent this,” says Tamrat. “It worked for Ebola and we hope it will work for COVID too.” The health messages presented in the app are based on MSF medical protocols and World Health Organization recommendations. 

“We trialled the Arabic version here in north Lebanon with the Syrian refugee community,” says MSF health promotion advisor Mireille Zreika, “and they found it challenging but also fun. We often use interactive quizzes and games in our health promotion activities, but this is the first time to have it on a phone. It’s a very effective way of sharing knowledge.”

Tamrat envisages that the COVID Challenge app will be used by families and communities across the 70-plus countries worldwide where MSF works – and beyond. The app is available for both Android and IOS systems and is free to use; once downloaded it can be played offline, making it accessible to people with no regular internet connection.

The application, available in 4 different languages (French, English, Spanish and Arabic), was made available to the public in September in its version for Android systems and is now also available for IOS. Since its launch, it has been downloaded by 190 unique users (on the Google Play store) and 74 in Apple store - located in various parts of the world, particularly in Europe, but also in the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Asia