MyQ, Linkup and Frisky

Key information

• Organisation: Education as a Vaccine (EVA)
• Country: Nigeria
• Region: Western and central Africa
• Stage of innovation: Stage 6: In the market and ready to scale
• Start date: 2007
• End date: Ongoing
• Type of innovation: Conceptual innovation: new ways of looking at problems, challenging assumptions, or both
• Budget: US$24,650
• Funded by: EVA

Summary of intervention

Young people in Nigeria struggle to access the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRH) information they need to protect themselves from HIV, STIs and unwanted pregnancies. To address this issue, Education as a Vaccine (EVA) has developed three digital innovations.

MyQ is a free question-and-answer messaging service that allows young people to use SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook and email to ask about SRHR and HIV and receive non-judgemental, factual responses from a trained counsellor.

The Linkup app allows young people to find facilities that provide diverse, youth-friendly SRHR and HIV services verified by EVA.

On the Frisky app young people can take a quiz to assess their sexual health risk then get tailored information about how to address these risks. It also connects users to a trained counsellor by linking them to MyQ.

75% of MyQ users found it helpful: 30% felt it improved their health practices and attitudes, 28% had improved STI, HIV and SRHR knowledge, and 11% felt it improved their relationships. Only 2% used MyQ to find services. The most popular service was HIV testing, followed by STI testing and treatment and pregnancy testing.

Learnings

Although young people using MyQ reported improved HIV knowledge, many still felt themselves to be at low risk of getting HIV. This finding has informed awareness raising activities, which have been carried out in schools, markets, and in online spaces, such as Facebook and Instagram, which have focused on HIV transmission, discrimination and stigmatisation.

next steps

EVA has sustained the MyQ service for more than three years now without donor support due to the importance of the service and the impact it is having on the decisions young people are making about their sexual and reproductive health. But the service requires funding to able to continue and expand. There is a need to create more awareness about Eva’s digital services by promoting them to adolescents and young people. There is also a need to gather further evidence on the use of these platforms to show their value and impact.