myPaddi

myPaddi (meaning ‘my confidant’) is a bottom-up, innovative intervention to rewrite the existing narratives about sexual and reproductive health rights in a society with huge ethnoreligious and sociocultural bias. myPaddi is a platform consisting of a mobile and web app that provides young people with anonymous access to accurate information on sexual and reproductive health, with emphasis on prevention of sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy & HIV/STDs, as well as providing them access to trained counsellors and medical personnel. myPaddi leverages on the ubiquity of mobile technology usage among young people to provide young people access to accurate sexual health information while offering them much needed anonymity in the midst of religious and cultural stereotypes.

Poor sexual and reproductive health accounts for an estimated one third of the global burden of illness and early death among women of reproductive age. Nigeria accounts for about 14% of the global burden of maternal mortality and young girls bear the greatest share of this burden. This is largely because every year, almost one million teenage girls become pregnant in Nigeria and most of these pregnancies are unwanted and the result is the prevailing sexual abuse that occurs in one out of every four girls in Nigeria. Because of Nigeria’s low contraceptive prevalence, a substantial number of women have unintended pregnancies, many of which are resolved through clandestine abortion, despite the country’s restrictive abortion law. This results in increased of exposure to STIs, sexual abuse and other sexual and reproductive health diseases.

Apart from the heavy affliction of urban dwellers, there is rapid excursion of these diseases to the rural areas as well. The most prominent reason for these alarming sexual and reproductive health indices in Nigeria is the shockingly little accurate information available on sexual and reproductive health, with even health workers often-times acting as barriers by failing to provide young people with supportive, non-judgmental and youth-appropriate services.

The adolescent (ages 15–19) and young adult (ages 20–24) years are a crucial time as many sexual and reproductive health (SRH) transitions take place in these years. Our target beneficiaries are young people between the age of 14-24 years of age who make up a huge population size for Nigeria. Although the solution is both useful to males and females, our focus population is to young people who identify as females.

Similarly, Nigeria has 150 million mobile phone lines, with almost 100 million of these being internet. 71% of  15-24-year olds in Nigeria use the internet, and the proliferation of affordable internet devices has enabled young people in underserved communities access the internet. This is particularly important as the growth of mobile technology has enabled young people low income communities access information, we therefore are bringing youth and mobile friendly sexual and reproductive health information to their finger-tips.

myPaddi (meaning ‘my confidant’) is a bottom-up, innovative intervention to rewrite the existing narratives. myPaddi is a platform consisting of a mobile and web app that at the touch of a button provides young people with anonymous access to accurate information on sexual and reproductive health, with emphasis on prevention and management of sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy & HIV/STDs, as well as providing them access to trained counselors and medical personnel.

In addition, myPaddi has an open COMMUNITY where young people across Nigeria can anonymously interact with one another, & with trained counselors and doctors, plus get real-time guidance on sexual abuse, contraceptive usage, and HIV/STDs prevention. The aim here is to deploy myPaddi as a tool for behavior change modification through gamification, positive reinforcement, and access to health information. In addition, we are implementing AI models to help  identify patterns in the behavior of users, understand these behaviors, and provide user-specific solutions and options for each user. Similarly, knowing that people would make better decisions when armed with accurate information, it is our objective to deploy this tool to empower young people to take charge of their future while gradually reversing existing negative stereotypes. Access to youth friendly health services is vital for ensuring sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and well-being of adolescents.

Furthermore, an entire generation is growing up with the internet as a major channel for gathering and sharing information and connecting with friends and like-minded people. Getting access to the right information on sexual and reproductive is very important especially in a country with notoriously biased cultural and religious pressures that often mutes young people especially young women from asking important questions from parents and/or guardians.

Our solution already allows young people have a safe haven to speak up. Anonymity has allowed many young people in our platform express themselves, and it is quite scary how little young people know about their own health. Helping young people become more confident to speak up about problems they have concerning their sexual health allows them to make better decisions on sex, contraceptive use, prevention of STDs/HIV, abortion etc. This has a long term effective of improving adolescent sexual and reproductive health and to prevent sexual violence.