Facebook and Red Cross Launch #AfricaTogether, a Campaign Calling for Vigilance against Covid-19

Facebook and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement are partnering to launch #AfricaTogether – a digital campaign and two-day festival on June 4th and 5th featuring artists from across Africa to encourage continued vigilance against Covid-19. 

With more than 100,000 Covid-19 cases confirmed on the continent and containment measures easing in many countries, #AfricaTogether combines musical and comedy performances with information from Covid-19 first responders and fact-checkers from across Africa. 

#AfricaTogether will include a festival with performances by artists such as Aramide, Ayo, Femi Kuti, Ferre Gola, Salatiel, Serge Beynaud, Youssou N’dour amongst many others, as well as a digital awareness campaign with prevention messages developed with Red Cross and Red Crescent health experts and targeting simultaneously Facebook users in 48 countries across sub-Saharan Africa.

The event will be streamed on Facebook Live on the 4th June in English and hosted by the Nigerian popular actor and comedian Basketmouth and in French on the 5th June by the renowned media personality Claudy Siar. To watch the live shows, viewers can tune in to the Facebook Africa page and Red Cross and Red Crescent Facebook pages. To register and learn more about the artist lineup and how to tune in, please visit the Facebook event pages in English and in French.

Commenting, Mamadou Sow, a long-serving member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement said, “If each and every one of us plays his or her role, we have no doubt that we will defeat COVID-19 on the continent of Africa. Now music is a powerful vector, an important conduit to spread messages of hope, solidarity and crucial messages of prevention as well to our fellow Africans especially African youth who themselves are agents of change in their communities and their societies. This is why we the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in Africa are teaming up with Facebook Africa to bring to you the #AfricaTogether Festival.”

Adding her voice to the initiative, Jocelyne Muhutu-Rémy, Facebook’s Strategic Media Partnerships Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa said: “Since the beginning of the COVD-19 crisis, we have seen a massive increase of usage of our platforms, Facebook and Instagram, around the world and in Africa. We have seen the power of these platforms to bring the world closer together. We really want to harness this power to ensure that there is correct information that is being disseminated, that we fight misinformation as much as possible. This is why we were very excited to collaborate with the Red Cross around this #AfricaTogether campaign to ensure that Africans remain vigilant in this time of pandemic as the pandemic continues to spread across our continent. But we wanted to disseminate this information in a manner that is fun, joyful, by bringing some of the best artistes together around this project in a spirit of unity, humour and togetherness.”

This event is one of the many ways that Facebook and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement are both contributing in the fight against Covid-19 across the continent.

Facebook continues to work with governments across Sub-Saharan Africa, including partnering with organizations like health agencies and NGOs who are actively using its platforms to share accurate information about the situation and launching Covid-19 Information Centers in more than 40 countries, which provides real-time updates from health authorities and helpful articles, videos and posts about social distancing and preventing the spread of the virus.

With a network of more than 1.5 million volunteers and staff across the continent, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is on the frontlines of combating Covid-19 in communities through information campaigns, providing soap and access to clean water, and supporting health care facilities and workers with training, equipment, and supplies. In parts of Africa, Covid-19 is another layer of crisis on top of conflict, violence, or climate disasters. 

 For more information, contact:

Olivia Nloga, Facebook, livy@fb.com  (French and English)

Stephen Ryan, Red Cross, +353 85 725 4114 (English)

Halimatou Amadou, Red Cross, hamadou@icrc.org , +221 78 186 4687 (French and English)

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