Apps don face masks to promote healthy practices amid Covid-19

Apna Mask initiative is promoting homemade masks and aims to drive behavioural change to ensure that people wear masks and stay protected as they step out of their homes.

An Indian man sells face masks by a roadside in Kochi, Kerala, India, Saturday, May 2, 2020. The southern state has made wearing face masks mandatory in public places and work places as part of measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus. (AP)

Internet companies like Urban Company, MakeMyTrip, Dunzo, HealthifyMe and Zomato are changing their social media handles and app icons to promote wearing face masks as a hygiene practice amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Apna Mask initiative -- an effort by StartUpVsCOVID (a startup community with over 1,000 members) -- is promoting homemade masks and aims to drive behavioural change to ensure that people wear masks and stay protected as they step out of their homes.

The #ApnaDeshApnaMask campaign was kicked off by startup industry stalwarts like Rajan Anandan of Sequoia India, Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Alok Mittal (Indifi), Vishal Gondal (GoQii) and others. They were later joined by celebrities like Vidya Balan, Dia Mirza, Juhi Chawla, Divya Khosla Kumar, Juhi Parmar, Deepshika Deshmukh, Sonu Sood, Shama Sikander, Preetika Rao and others.

Within a span of two weeks, the initiative has garnered 100 million outreach across digital platforms, including WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The team working on the campaign also reached out to various organisations to support the initiative, especially as parts of the country get ready to come out of the lockdown which has been extended till May 17.

"Urban Company, MakemyTrip, Dunzo, HealthifyMe, Zomato, Redbus, Ixigo, MoneyTap, MyUpchaar, Bounce, RazorPay, Medanta, WittyFeed, LBB, Porter, Meesho, Daily Hunt, 1mg, Paytm Games have changed their social media handles while some are changing the app icons as well," a statement said.

These brands are also inviting more companies to join the initiative.

"Given the immense response we have received, we will have more brands join #ApnaMask in this critical initiative. We believe some of these steps will be helpful in building habit changing behaviour towards wearing homemade masks," Poonam Kaul, co-founder of ApnaMask, said.

In a separate statement, Crowdera -- an online fundraising platform -- said it is offering its premium syndicated fundraising technology solutions for free to companies and NGOs working to help the Covid-19 affected individuals, families and health workers.

"Crowdera will be extending its support through offering its products and services worth almost USD 150,000 (₹1 crore) free to organisations aiding the affected...The solution will help corporations and NGOs to quickly syndicate with their own employees, influencers, other foundations, or charity partners to raise funds 10X more than through a regular crowdfunding campaign," it said.  

Under this pledge, Crowdera has already extended its support to companies like Rapido, Repos, BYJU'S, SirfTaxi, and Tartl to engage their employees and partners in fundraising for the COVID-affected workforce.