Period tracker app co-created with Filipino girls launched on Menstrual Health Day
16 June 2023For many girls and young women in the Philippines, this year’s celebration of Menstrual Hygiene Day has been unlike any other. Last May 26, 2023, the new period tracker and menstrual health app Oky Philippines, made for and by Filipino girls, was officially launched nationwide.
The roots where Oky began
Oky was first developed by UNICEF in Indonesia and Mongolia. The key features of the app included a period tracker, daily diary, fun quizzes, and an encyclopaedia containing girl-friendly information about menstruation and other sexual and reproductive health topics. Eventually, the initiative to localise Oky in the Philippines came around in July 2022, with support from the Australian Government and in partnership with UNICEF. Thus began a journey of innovation, collaboration and co-creation.
Aligned with the principle of Oky that puts a prime on being girl-led, the process of creating the Filipino version of the app started with a series of consultations with over 400 girls and their social circles, including children with disabilities and indigenous peoples. These consultations mapped out their current knowledge about menstruation, digital habits, and impressions of the existing global version of the Oky app.
Their inputs and suggestions then served to guide the development of the app’s designs, resulting in the vibrant Filipino avatars and backgrounds available in the Oky Philippines app today. They also informed the content of the app’s encyclopaedia, a crucial resource for girls to know more not only about periods and how to manage them, but also about how to navigate their adolescent life.
Oky Philippines goes online
After many months of app development, the first version of Oky Philippines finally went online in March 2023, when it pilot-launched in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). BARMM has been one of the focus areas of the project due to its high population of Muslim girls whose period experiences continue to be negatively affected by their lack of access to correct information on menstruation. This reality results in the prevalence of myths and misconceptions, stigma, and other notions that tend to restrict their day-to-day life including their education, religious practices, and household duties.
A couple of months after the BARMM launch, Oky Philippines was launched nationally, just in time for the celebration of Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28. In addition to its base features, a Help Center was added in the Filipino version of the app, which users can check for information on nearby health facilities and organisations that can support them on specific concerns.
A solid vehicle to promote Oky
Truly, there was much to celebrate on that particular day as key government agencies also expressed their commitment to integrate Oky Philippines in their respective programs for adolescent health and development, giving Oky a solid vehicle to reach thousands of girls and young women in the Philippines and provide them access to menstrual health information.
As Oky Philippines continues to develop and expand in reach, so does the involvement of girls and young people. A key component in the promotion of Oky in various areas in the country is the activation of the Oky Youth Campaigners.
This group consists of the young people who were previously engaged in the development stage, and who are now stepping up to promote Oky within their own circles. To date, two batches of Oky Campaigners have already been capacitated and more are expected to join, following the school and community-based rollout activities in Manila, Eastern Visayas, Occidental Mindoro, and BARMM.
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To know more about Oky, visit okyapp.info
Oky Philippines is free to download from Google Play Store. The app will be available in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. This project, supported by the Australian Government, is a joint product of the Department of Health, Department of Education, Commission on Population and Development, and the National Youth Commission, together with UNICEF and in partnership with Plan International. The app is also endorsed by the Bangsamoro Government.
Sexual and reproductive health and rights, Children with disabilities, Comprehensive sexuality education, Menstruation, Sexual and reproductive health services, Technology for development, Teenage pregnancy, Water and sanitation
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