Interactive Health Information Chatbot for Non-Communicable Diseases in Swahili Language
Abstract:Current health awareness campaign strategies,
efforts, and methods on NCDs have not produced improved outcomes in reducing
the burden, spread, and deaths linked to NCDs in Tanzania. To support,
compliment, and improve health literacy on NCDs and promote good healthcare, we
designed and developed an interactive health Chatbot ‘afyaBot’ in Swahili
language that can respond to user's requests concerning NCDs symptoms,
prevention, management, and cure. The Chatbot was designed using Botsociety; a
special tool for designing Chatbot prototypes; BotMan framework for coding the
Chatbot logic and Google Dialogflow platform that offers high-level Natural
Language Processing capabilities. The Chatbot was integrated into the Facebook
Messenger platform which offers free public API access that eliminates the cost
of the internet from the consumers. The Chatbot was tested for accuracy,
usability, user experience, responsiveness, reliability, maintainability, and
portability. The results of implementation were satisfactory and provide
insights useful to stakeholders in the health sector. The interactive Chatbot
was designed to provide real-time information on NCDs, create awareness, and
educate users on preventive, control, and treatment measures of NCDs. It will likewise
assist healthcare providers to collect accurate timely health data for
monitoring, planning, and research purpose.