Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) during the Inter university dialogue (IUD) held yesterday at the International University of East Africa (IUEA) finally launched the long-awaited Artificial Intelligence (Ai) – Ask RHU.
Ask RHU is for now a Facebook messenger-based chat bot that provides instant responses to questions on Sexual reproductive health rights information and services (SRHRS), with ambitions of moving on to other platforms as What’s app, SMS and so on.
The timely innovation was solely developed by young people to address information gaps in the areas of SRHR. All steps of the development, from the naming, to topics, to the flow and outlook were all a collective of ideas by the young people.
Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world with 78% being under 30years of Age. The country has also been hit by shocking numbers of teenage pregnancies especially during the lockdown, brought about by the pandemic. Experts warned that these were majorly because of lack of access to Sexual reproductive health information and services.
The internet is a useful source of SRHR information. In a study of internet use and coping, Reeves 2001 (How individuals coping with HIV/AIDS use the Internet) suggested that people living with HIV/AIDS who use the internet for health information seem better informed about HIV/AIDS and report more use of active coping strategies, including information seeking, and greater social support. In bid to increase the information dissemination of SRHR to the youth, RHU created the Ask RHU platform.
Social media has become an integral part of how people communicate, stay in touch, keep on top of new developments, and connect with the world around them. The youth make up the majority of the population in Uganda right now, and they are more interested in using social media. Therefore, one of the fastest ways to reach the youth and young people in Uganda is through social media.
According to the internet world statistics, Uganda has 3,328,000 Facebook subscribers out of 23 million who are on the internet as of December 2020. Ask RHU is specifically on Facebook messenger because many youths in Uganda access Facebook regularly. According to the social media statistics for the month of March 2021, Facebook is the most used platform in Uganda accounting for 59.58% usage.
The Ask RHU chatbot also provides confidentiality to the user. Many young people shy away from accessing various information on SRHR in fear of public perception. The information shared by this chatbot can be retained by the user and so one can always refer and also share it. This platform similarly generates data to RHU basing on the most asked questions, the information searched and so identifies the gaps in SRHR programming which can be used to tailor and inform future programmes. The chatbot can be accessed from any part of the world as long as the user can access the internet.
Information and communication technology (ICT) represent an important new resource for enhancing the reach and effectiveness of SRHR programming.
Ask RHU is an AI or artificial intelligence that works through Facebook messenger to provide, accurate, instant information on SRHR and live locations for youth friendly spaces this innovation is here to feed into the gap that has been magnified by the COVID 19 pandemic, the lack of important information especially on SRHR and safe sex.
So ladies and gentlemen, this is ASK RHU, We hope it can revolutionaries and simplify access to information.
We are ambitious, and we continue to evolve and grow, the bot will continue to improve the more we use it. So please check it out, test it and see if it works, let us know if you have ideas to make it better.
Our next step after a successful run, is to launch on what’s app, and then SMS consequently. This has been made possible with support from @SafeHands_
Please do tell a friend to tell a friend.
