Cambodia’s first mobile health platform designed to reach individuals at risk of HIV was launched today by USAID’s Cambodia HIV/AIDS Flagship project in collaboration with the National AIDS Authority and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications during a special event in Phnom Penh.
The new platform – called “mHealth” – will support the Royal Government of Cambodia’s “3.0 Initiative,” providing potentially life-saving HIV-related information and services to underserved populations. These populations include entertainment workers, men who have sex with men, and transgender individuals. The multi-channel mHealth platform features a mobile phone interactive voice response system, interactive web sites and Facebook pages.
“Cambodia has made tremendous advances in addressing its HIV epidemic,” noted Sean Callahan, USAID Cambodia’s Acting Mission Director. “However, key populations remain at a high risk of HIV infection. It is critical that we reach these groups with HIV-related information and services, and deliver life-saving information and services to them.”
The new platform builds on USAID’s SMARTgirl, MStyle, and Srey Sros program brands to deliver two components: “My Community” and “Voice4U”. “My Community” is a set of interactive web sites and Facebook pages that offers electronically-mapped service locations and downloadable referrals, HIV and related news and information, individual risk screening, and more. “Voice4U” is an interactive voice response system that provides callers with on-line counseling, on-demand HIV and health-related information, and medication and appointment reminders.
For more information:
Seng Sopheap, Tel: 012515361, Email: ssopheap@fhi360.org
Khy Udom, Tel: 089966080, Email: kudom@fhi360.org
The Cambodia HIV/AIDS Flagship project is a consortium of local and international non-profit organizations, led by KHANA, with technical assistance from FHI 360 and PSI/PSK. It is funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
