DIGITAL SELF-CARE INTERVENTIONS FOR ADOLESCENT AND YOUTH
Adolescents and Youth are the future. Providing these groups with the right information and access to health care services at the right time is vital for their long-term health. Adolescents and youth needs are unique, and services need to be accessible, affordable, and friendly — without judgment or bias from providers and offered during convenient times. One of the biggest challenges adolescents and youth face when seeking health information and services is understanding what their options are and how they can access them. Additionally, although adolescents and youth have the right to services, these groups continue to face stigma and discrimination while trying to access different health services including counseling on family planning. Self-care interventions can address the many challenges, from lack of information to social stigma, that adolescents and youth face when accessing health care. They adolescents and youth to put their health in their own hands.
The World Health Organization defines selfcare interventions as tools that support self-care and include evidence-based, high quality drugs, services, diagnostics, and digital interventions that can be provided fully or partially outside formal health services and be used with or without a health worker Countries are introducing and implementing various self-care interventions to improve the quality of health care services. One major growth area in self-care interventions is the use of digital tools that allow individuals, including adolescents and youth, to access health-related information and services more efficiently.
Digital self-care interventions offer unique benefits including increased access to health information and services, anonymity, personalized services, linkages to the healthcare system for continuity of care, personalized services, and the ability to collect client data and monitor quality, safety, and client satisfaction. The practice and promotion of digital self-care behaviors allow individuals to gain benefits that fit their lifestyles as well as bring change to their health and wellbeing. In a globalized world where adolescents and youth access digital tools and platforms at an increasing rate, developing digital self-care interventions is key in complementing the existing ways that these groups receive information and services that serve their health needs.
Jojo, a WhatsApp-based contraceptive advice and product delivery service that connects young women in Nairobi, Kenya with experienced clinicians through live chat is a prime example of a digitally based selfcare platform that meets adolescents’ health care needs.1 It allows women to ask questions as well as get the services they require confidentially while developing trust through anonymity. Such digital platforms are essential in addressing young women who for several reasons are not able to visit health facilities or have access to the information they need.
There is a lot of potential for digital self-care tool in Ethiopia. But to make the most out of these digital self-care interventions, the design and implementation processes need to be specific to the needs of the intended users and the content should both resonate with them to keep them interested and develop a sense of empowerment as they take care of themselves. Additionally, to make self-care interventions work for adolescents and youth, they need to be meaningfully engaged in the design, implementation, and monitoring processes. Developments in digital self-care platforms will improve the health and lives of adolescents and youth.
