Gender crimes continue in Latin America despite advances in recent years. WeHelp
WeHelp recently became viral in the news. A woman was saved from a possible kidnapper thanks to the application.
Push panic button
Vanessa was walking down the street when she noticed that a man was chasing her. She issued an alert through the app. Bastian Ramirez received the message and approached her to help and drive away the man who followed Vanessa for several minutes.
Carlos Gotlib’s team developed the app. The users provide some emergency contact information by registering in WeHelp. Also, they can issue alerts by pressing a panic button for three consecutive seconds.
The app uses the phone’s geolocalization service to provide other users with the location so they can go to help. Since the viral Facebook’s post, WeHelp increased new users in 80% and reached 350 thousand active users, according to information provided by the company.
Bracelets or other garments could be introduced in the future in case the person can not remove the cellphone at that moment.