Olivier Uwishema is an aspiring physician and medical student in Turkey. He is the founder of Oli Health Magazine, which he describes as “an International Scientific Research Academy”. When COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, and the closure of his university studies at the beginning of March 2020, Uwishema thought he could give a hand in the fight against the disease. “In response to the COVID-19 crisis and in recognition of the need for timely information relevant to primary care, I immediately started a project of Coronavirus Global Awareness to make sure no one is left on the sidelines of this coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.” The magazine creates and translates accessible COVID-19 information into different languages to make sure everyone, regardless of the language they speak, has access to information on the novel coronavirus. The information is available in: English, Turkish, French, Kinyarwanda, Swahili, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Italian, and Chinese, among the available 24 languages. The team is yet to bring in more languages. The project quickly gained supporters and expanded worldwide. More than 150 medical students, medical residents and doctors got interested and have joined the initiative. The information was broken down, so that all people can better understand. “We are researching and publishing information about the basics of COVID-19 for the average citizens who are not fluid in science to help patients from vulnerable communities.” A person has access to the information either by reading published articles on COVID-19 at Oli Health Magazine or watching videos related to COVID-19 awareness, self-care, mental health and coping with COVID-19. Uwishema calls upon his fellow youths to be more creative and innovative. “My message to my fellow youth across the globe is to keep in mind that Coronavirus COVID-19 is giving us a gift of time. So let’s make sure that we are using it wisely by being more creative, innovative and productive and also supporting each other. Together we can spread positivity and strength by staying alert to further prevent the spread of COVID-19.” Uwishema’s project is with the partnership with Harvard Medical School where the medical Students COVID-19 Response Team, to provide accessible, evidence-based COVID-19 factual information in many languages.
