Publications
Partners
- The Department of Health recently launched a WhatsApp chatbot that advises teenagers on issues relating to sex, relationships, identity, mental health, and general well-being.
- The platform, Young Africa Live, was launched in July and works on WhatsApp and Facebook.
- We pretended to be an 18-year-old teenage female looking for sex advice on the platform, and the answers weren’t satisfactory.
- For more stories, visit the Tech and Trends homepage.
The Department of Health recently launched a WhatsApp chatbot that helps advise and support youth on sex, relationships, identity, mental health, and well-being.
The chatbot, called Young Africa Live, operates on social media platforms, including WhatsApp and Facebook, which are popular among youngsters.
According to DOH spokesperson Foster Mohale, the platform was designed to help young people tackle complex questions that arise during adolescence around love and relationships, sexuality, mental health, HIV and STIs, contraceptives, and pregnancy.
He said that youngsters will receive support and be aided in making informed decisions through the youth-dominated communication platform.
"Most young people are not comfortable [discussing] sex-related topics with adults, especially the ones they know well, so this will create an enabling environment for young people to openly discuss any sex or relationship topics, including the ones they wouldn't necessarily feel open to discuss with the next person due to fear of judgement. This will enable them" Mohale told News24.
He added that advice on the platform comes from experts from various health-related disciplines.
"The platform has specialists in various health disciplines who are able to respond to health issues. This will complement other interventions such as youth-friendly zones already established in various primary health facilities," he said.
Addressing HIV and unwanted pregnancy
The initiative also came as a response to the country's staggering HIV and pregnancy rates among youth.
According to the Thembisa Project, a mathematical model of the South African HIV epidemic, the rate of new HIV infections was estimated to be at 164 000 in 2022.
Data cited by the South African government revealed that new infections remain high in the country (200 000) with more than 150 adolescent girls and young women between the ages of 15 and 25 being infected daily.
"An intensified focus on HIV prevention is a priority for our country to achieve the 2025 prevention coverage target of 95% and the target of fewer than 74 000 new infections by 2025," said Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla in his keynote address at the International AIDS Conference this year.
To bring the initiative to life, the Department of Health partnered with organisations, including The Global Fund, Elton John Aids Foundation, Meta, and Reach.
How it works
The platform, available 24/7, works across WhatsApp and Facebook to give tailored advice, information, and support to youngsters.
Users can alternate between the two platforms to have secure, private conversations with the SmartBot on WhatsApp or discuss topics openly with their peers on Facebook at any time.
"Our easy-to-use digital platform integrates seamlessly into existing healthcare systems, connecting young people with physical healthcare resources, facilities, and practitioners through a medium they're already familiar with – social media," according to the website.
We tried the chatbot, and it has its pitfalls.
We posed as an 18-year-old female teenager looking for advice on a sex-related matter. Our question to the chatbot was: "I am a virgin, and my boyfriend wants us to have sex. What do I do?".
While the WhatsApp chatbot quickly responded, it didn’t necessarily deliver the advice we had hoped for.
The response prompted us to select topics to read related to sex. The topics included: Enjoying condoms, Having sex when HIV+, Anal sex, Not enjoying sex, and Sex choices, among other options.
We selected the fifth option on Sex choices, and the response wasn’t quite satisfactory for an 18-year-old seeking advice on a seemingly pressing matter.
"There are many ways to have sex that feels great. Every person is different and so there's no one right path to pleasure. But few things can help you to find out what you like," the chatbot responded, adding that "one way is to get comfortable and cosy and explore pleasure by touching yourself".
Here's the full response:
The chatbot did not give advice that was related to the teenager's query, which tells us that it's not quite all the way there yet.
This proved that this chatbot, and many chatbots in general, can be efficient in their response times, but often miss the context and specificity of the human's need.
This is because chatbots are computer programs set up to answer questions from a database.
"When a user asks a question that isn't in the chatbot's database, the chatbot is unable to respond. These queries are likely to confuse chatbots, which will send them in loops. By trying to understand the question, the bot will avoid leaving you without an answer," according to IT company TechSense.
