Building a chatbot in a pandemic.

Easy access to evidence-based information on COVID-19 within an infodemic has been a challenging task. Chatbots have been introduced in times of emergency, when human resources are stretched thin, and individuals need a user-centred resource. The WHO Regional Office for Europe and UNICEF Europe and Central Asia came together to build a chatbot, HealthBuddy+, to assist country populations in the Region to access accurate COVID-19 information in the local languages, adapted to the country context. Working in close collaboration with thematic technical experts, colleagues and counterparts at the country level allowed the project to be tailored to a diverse range of subtopics. To ensure that HealthBuddy+ was relevant and useful in countries across the Region, the two regional offices worked closely with their counterparts in country offices, who were essential in partnering with national authorities, engaging communities, and promoting the tool, and identifying the most relevant communication channels in which to embed HealthBuddy+. Over the past two years, the project has expanded from a web-based chatbot in seven languages to a multistream, multifunction chatbot available in 16 regional languages, and HealthBuddy+ continues to expand and adjust to meet emerging health emergency needs.