Méhiugnim Tchabou
is a doctor at Lomé University Hospital and coordinator of a health communication and education platform called Les Zopitaux et Moi, created
in 2017. He is the winner of the Grand Prix Coup de Coeur awarded by TV5monde at the latest Adicomawards.
Can you tell us about your platform?
The aim of the Les Zopitaux et Moi platform is to combat the cruel lack of health information tailored to our populations by offering simple, digestible, and fun content to captivate internet users and encourage them to consume health information through the power of digital technology.
In what context was it conceived and designed?
After completing a training course in social media management applied to the health sector, I wanted to create a platform that could be used to inform communities about health-related topics.
There is a severe lack of information in this field, and people have very little access to it. We don't have high-quality information provided by healthcare professionals at the local and African levels. That's why I wanted to create this platform to disseminate information in language that everyone can understand, amplified by social media.
Little by little, several people joined the initiative. Today, there are a dozen of us working on a voluntary basis for this platform.
What content is available?
We provide articles, videos, and, above all, infographics created by doctors in collaboration with graphic designers. We also organize live events on social media, debates on Twitter, polls, and more.
All content is available free of charge.
Geographically, 75% of our audience is African and mainly concentrated in Togo. On Twitter, we have more followers in France than in Togo. It varies depending on the type of social media platform. We also have many profiles of professionals from the healthcare sector.
How is the platform fed?
As I wanted the platform to have a fairly wide reach, I put together a team of healthcare professionals, but also digital professionals (graphic designers, videographers, etc.) and journalists. Little by little, several people joined the initiative. Today, there are about a dozen of us.
Are there other similar initiatives being created on the continent?
Benin, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast have seen the emergence of this type of platform. Projects in this field are multiplying, but they are often more specific platforms relating to specific areas or specific diseases. We try to be more generalist, but it is true that we deal with many topics related to mothers and children.
What are your ambitions for the future?
We started with this simple idea: to add value by providing people with information on health issues, information that they can take ownership of. We started in 2017 and our ambition is for this platform to become THE benchmark platform, the most influential in Africa in this field within five years. We hope to build closer ties with major institutions and healthcare establishments so that people can better understand how the system works, what is in place, what is accessible
,
etc.
You won an AdicomAward. What does that symbolize?
It's a great reward because we had already applied for the last edition. It symbolizes a real breath of fresh air for the whole team because we have been working on this project for three years now, despite the difficulties and barriers.