To reach and inform Filipino adolescents on various topics such as sexuality, mental health, vaccination, and nutrition among others with the hope to decrease early sexual engagement and early pregnancies, the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM-6) recently launched the AHlam Na 2.0 mobile application.
The mobile application aims to provide educational inputs on adolescent health, including nutrition, mental health, immunization, referral services, and a directory of service providers.
The app was developed in partnership with the Iloilo State College of Fisheries, and the Department of Health-Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WV CHD).
The AHlam Na! 2.0 app is currently available on Google Play for compatible Android devices and is set to be launched for Apple’s iOS for iPhones in 2023.
It has an improved interface and introduces new games such as Fill In the Blanks and Guess the Word, and Fact or Bluff game.
With its upgraded version, players can play the game and enjoy new improvements including additional unlocking game levels and menus, as well as the conversion of game points to redeem prepaid mobile load cards.
The app also introduced its avatar known as MAHLA who guides and instructs the players every after game.
POPCOM-6 had already launched the mobile application in 2018. However, it was imminent due to the rise in the use of gadgets, especially amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Because of some adjustments, the agency has gathered feedbacks to improve the app. In fact, they have conducted a Focus Group Discussion on the mobile application with youth representatives from Cabatuan town and tested it during a session at the Iloilo National High School in Iloilo City last September.
According to POPCOM-6 chief Harold Alfred Marshall, the application is very useful as it provides more information on various population-related issues. He also stressed the importance of POPCOM to other agencies.
“Ang aton nga dapat lantawon ang connections sang population and development sa tanan. It touches everyone and everything, that’s why it has to be put in the center of local development. What we are doing here is simply providing adolescents with correct, proper, relevant, and timely information. It’s still a matter of choice,” he added.
Meanwhile, POPCOM-6 Information Officer Ma Annie Ayala-Masigon said AHlam Na! mobile application is just one of the strategies to reach and inform the Filipino adolescents.
“We hope to see happy, healthy and empowered adolescents. However the role of parents or guardians to guide and teach them, is still the most effective method that we could apply for them to have a better future,” she added.
In addition, they will closely tie up with the Department of Education-Region 6 to also promote the application to school-aged adolescents.
During her interview on IMT Conversations, POPCOM-6 Information Officer Lara Jeunesse Villaruel also said that the mobile application will serve as a platform for teenagers to have more knowledge on societal issues. When using the app, they can get more information especially what to do and what not to do.
“POPCOM, like any other government agency, is one institution aiming to better the quality of life of every Filipino individual. However, we are closely collaborating with other agencies (public, private, and even NGOs) to ensure that people are always at the center of plans, projects, programs, and development in general,” she added.IMT
