Why

• The increasing incidence of high blood pressure (1-in-3 adults) and diabetes among Nigerians

• The rising cost of treatment for these chronic diseases

• Difficulty in accessing care due to Covid-19 movement restrictions

• The silent crisis of white coat hypertension and the resulting overmedication

• Upsurge in the cases of complications from inadequate treatment of these conditions and reduced access to a timely intervention

• I had a patient who would text me her blood pressure readings every other day, asking if she should use her medications

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What

A WhatsApp chatbot that enabled remote access to primary care for hypertension and diabetes as well as personalized regimen which secondarily reduced treatment cost.

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How

I created a WhatsApp Business account with a business line then downloaded SKEDit and WhatsAuto. Afterwards, I hardcoded into the WhatsAuto, clinically-based text messages that covered most of the anticipated incoming messages. I also created a direct link to reach a healthcare provider (me), should that become necessary. After this, I created 2 WhatsApp groups for hypertension and diabetes sufferers and connected them to SKEDit, which sent scheduled health information texts in primetime. The texts were in Nigerian Pidgin (a creole language spoken as a lingua franca across Nigeria) to prevent miscommunication.

 

When I was done building the chatbot on WhatsAuto, I linked the account to the WhatsApp business account. To strengthen the value proposition of the solution, I reached out to pharmacy chains with a wide distribution of stores with the proposal to increase their footfall through referrals in exchange for discounts to referees. They agreed.

 

Next, I reached out to representatives of Roche and Omron (the major manufacturers of home healthcare devices used in Nigeria) with the proposal to increase their customer base through referrals in exchange for discounts on their products. They agreed and introduced me to their distributors.

 

Thereafter, I reached out to the leadership of the Diabetes Association of Nigeria with the proposal to give their members access to discounts on routine drugs and devices in exchange for signing up and subscribing to the platform. We increased drug compliance and remote access to primary care for diabetes and hypertension patients by at least 23%.

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