In collaboration with the Reach Digital Health and Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Department of Health has launched the Young Africa Live (YAL) Smart bot.
The YAL is a WhatsApp platform designed to help young people get answers to complex questions that arise during the adolescence stage around love, relationships, sexuality, mental health, HIV and STIs (sexually transmitted illnesses), contraceptives and pregnancy.
The platform is the first to be launched under the YAL umbrella, and forms part of the department’s interactive digital health platform called B-Wise Health, designed to help and empower young people with solutions to challenges surrounding sex and relationships in a private and safe space that puts answers at their fingertips.
“The establishment of this youth-targeted initiative was informed by the high rate of teenage pregnancy, and HIV infections among young people, and the results of the Youth Sex Survey conducted in 2012,” said the department in a statement.
The survey shows that at least 60% of randomly surveyed 17 000 adolescents say they are not open to discuss or ask parents about sexual issues.
“The survey results suggest that important conversations surrounding sex remain taboo in some sections of society, making it difficult for young people to openly ask sex-related questions in order to make informed health choices.”
The department further assured that no question is too embarrassing and no worry is too strange on the YAL platform.
Young people can ask exactly what is on their mind and receive a reassuring, informative and accurate response.
“Users can chat in private via WhatsApp, and if there is a topic they want to discuss with their peers, they can jump across to the B-Wise Facebook or Instagram pages to see what others have to say.
“This allows the platform to establish common topics across key geographies and age groups and adapt the content on both public Facebook pages and on the private WhatsApp platform.
“The WhatsApp platform provides a space for the young to explore different features, search for services nearby, ask questions, or request a call from a qualified counsellor.
“It also connects them to information that empowers them at a time when they are dealing with overwhelming physical and emotional change.”
This is to ensure that each young person’s journey towards better sexual, reproductive, and mental health is tailored to their specific needs, providing a safe space to explore sensitive topics in a privacy-protected and judgement-free environment.
The platform uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to understand free-form questions and replies automatically with the most relevant answers.
This functionality is designed to improve the more it is used and will rapidly evolve to interpret the many ways in which young people ask for information.
The insights, support, and information will be provided by trained experts at B-Wise, who are accessible through the platform or on Facebook and Instagram.
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