Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi yesterday launched a mobisite called B-Wise to enable young people to interact with him and the department about teenage problems.
The site is a social media platform aimed at providing health information to young people.
Under the slogan “Health at your fingertips” the site will give young people an opportunity to access health information on various topics such as sexual and reproductive health, mental health, substance abuse and other social issues.
At the ceremony hosted at KT Motubatse clinic in Soshanguve, Motsoaledi had a live chat with young people who were able to register and connect to the site.
He said questions could be related to social problems such as HIV/Aids, addiction to nyaope, stress and teenage pregnancies.
Subscribers to B-Wise could use cellphones to log on to the website called B-wise.mobi – a product of the department.
Features of B-Wise include a chat room which could be used by subscribers to interact with each other or to initiate an online conversation with the minister.
Experts such as psychologists, social workers and religious leaders will take turns to interact with subscribers and offer tips on various subjects.
Motsoaledi said the new platform is aimed at assisting young adolescents aged between 10 and 14, older adolescents aged 15 to 19 and the youth aged 20 to 24.
Prior to the launch, a competition was run for young people to come up with an innovative name for the programme.
Tshepo Mofokeng, 22, proposed the name B-Wise, which won the competition. Motsoaledi handed him the prize – an iPad.
Mofokeng said he entered the competition to suggest a name for the platform after he conducted a survey by asking the Naledi community in the Free State, where he comes from, for their views.
Motsoaledi also took stock of another social media platform called Mom-Connect, launched last year for expectant women and mothers to interact with the minister and the department.
He said the feedback had been generally satisfactory. About 50 000 women who used it have appealed to the department to provide them with additional information about pregnancy and breastfeeding.
The Mom-Connect platform also has a feature allowing subscribers to leave complaints or compliments.
Motsoaledi said a total of 2 564 women had expressed their happiness about the type of service they received at various health service delivery points.
He said 442 women had, however, complained about the bad attitude of nurses and doctors and the long time they spent in queues at hospitals and clinics due to staff shortages.
One of the complaints came from patients at Mamelodi Hospital about poor service.
Motsoaledi urged health personnel at the hospitals and clinics to offer a better service.