'Bol Behen' Chatbot On WhatsApp To Help Adolescent Girls With Health, Sexual Well-Being Concerns

WhatsApp on Wednesday launched an AI chatbot in India, in a bid to help adolescent girls and young women with concerns and queries around general health and sexual well-being.

'Bol Behen' Chatbot On WhatsApp To Help Adolescent Girls With Health, Sexual Well-Being Concerns

New Delhi: Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp on Wednesday launched an AI chatbot in India, in a bid to help adolescent girls and young women with concerns and queries around general health and sexual well-being. The AI chatbot named "Bol Behen" has been launched in collaboration with a non-profit named Girl Effect, and the "Hinglish" language chatbot provides adolescent girls with a safe space to grow their knowledge.

Bol Behen AI chatbot has been equipped with relatable and easy-to-understand content on sensitive topics such as sex, relationships, and reproductive health, which will be available on WhatsApp, the world's most popular messaging platform that has more than 487 million users in India alone, according to Statista. Built on the WhatsApp Business Platform, the chatbot is available 24/7 in Hinglish. To access the bot, WhatsApp users need to send "Hi" to the number +917304496601 on WhatsApp or click on this link https://wa.me/917304496601. 

“WhatsApp’s technology offers us the opportunity to forge closer links between girls and the health services they need, providing content that solves her concerns and encourages her to access healthcare, through connection with curated and vetted providers. This will help us to deliver more seamless, personalised healthcare journeys in the future -- for example, leading to girls booking appointments, getting reminders and sharing feedback all within Bol Behen," Kanishk Kabiraj, Girl Effect Country Lead for India, said in a statement.

First launched in India on Facebook Messenger in 2020, Bol Behen AI chatbot reached more than 100,000 conversations initiated with users, with over 1.6 million messages received. Through in-bot quizzes, Bol Behen was able to shift knowledge and attitudes around key sexual and reproductive health topics.

Bol Behen chatbot is inspired by Girl Effect’s first chatbot named Big Sis that provides girls in South Africa with non-judgmental advice on sensitive issues, including sex and relationships, on platforms and channels they know, trust and love.