RAKSHA: THIP Media’s Chatbot That Answers Women Health Issues

The chatbot built on the WhatsApp Business platform was launched in April 2022 to help users access credible health related information

India's health fact-checking platform, THIP Media, an official signatory of International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) is addressing women's health issues by leveraging its chatbot, RAKSHA, to prevent health misinformation and answer health related questions, empower women to make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing.

Neelam Singh, Editor, THIP Media said, “While RAKSHA is primarily a health information and fact checking chatbot open to all Indians. But we see a higher number of incoming messages around women’s health. In fact 62 per cent of the overall monthly topics our team responds back to are related to women’s health. A greater majority of them are related to sexual health topics including pregnancy, menstruation, PCOS etc. In fact, a lot of people send us queries raising from misinformation they spotted on social media or a video they spotted on YouTube.”

The chatbot built on the WhatsApp Business platform was launched in April 2022 to help users access credible health related information. Users can communicate with the chatbot by sending messages on WhatsApp to +91-85078-85079. Users can send across information that they want to verify or questions they want to be answered.

Singh said, “We are focused onempowering women with verified health information this Women’s Day. We have created a large database of the most asked questions around women’s health. Moreover, if the answer is not available in the chatbot’s database, it will verify the answer with the medical board to bring you the most authentic health information.”

The Healthy Indian Project (THIP) works to promote health literacy in India. THIP Media, the health information and fact checking platform of the company works with verified medical professionals to fact-check misleading news and claims about health, medicine, diet, and treatment. The platform publishes in English, Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, and Nepali.