Pretoria – In a bid to encourage young people to make informed decisions about their health, a new mobi-site known as B-Wise was launched in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria on Thursday.
B-Wise is a mobile health initiative that provides young South Africans with the information, tools and support they need to live healthier lives.
Launching the mobi-site, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi called on all young people to make use of the platform. “We needed to have a site where we are able to communicate with adolescents,” he said.
Minister Motsoaledi said his department was determined to communicate with young people. “We want to ensure that our adolescents and the youth make informed decisions to develop their bodies and minds,” the Minister said.
The youth can access the site by visiting https://b-wise.mobi and they can read factual information, view real stories from other young people and participate in polls.
During the allocated live chat hours, users will be able to chat live with a range of experts such as psychologists, nutritionists and the general practitioners.
Youngsters can also access information on various topics such as sexual and reproductive health, mental health and substance abuse, healthy lifestyles and other social issues.
They are also able to use the mobi-site to communicate directly with the Minister about problems they are facing on a daily basis.
The site is managed by the Department of Health and is accessed via an internet-enabled mobile phone. Users will have registered to the site.
Thandeka Maponya, 19, from Soshanguve Block TT, told SAnews the mobi-site will put her in touch with information about health issues.
“I will also use the site to communicate with other young people about healthy lifestyles and we can advise each other on problems we are encountering,” she said.
Samuel Maboleke said he was happy that information about health was now easily available.
“As young people we need to know things that will keep us away trouble and always stay health,” he said.
A similar initiative, Mom-Connect, was launched last year for pregnant women. Through the initiative, pregnant women are able ask questions related to pregnancy and get answers or responses immediately.
To date over 460 000 pregnant mothers have registered and are receiving messages.
Mothers to be can also use Mom Connect to praise a facility or complain about poor services. The department has received about 360 complaints and 2015 compliments.
Of these, 2500 were complaints, while others were about staff attitudes and complaints about long queues. - SAnews.gov.za
