BY Nkosazana Ngwadla
These days there’s an app for everything, and if used correctly, these apps can be very helpful. One of our favorite apps is one by medical doctor and author, Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, Sentebale App.
Sentebale, meaning ‘forget me not’ in the Sesotho language, is considered a guide to stigma-free, evidence-based, and comprehensive information about sexual and reproductive health (SRH).
“The name emphasizes the importance of not forgetting about your sexual health as a part of achieving holistic wellness,” she writes on the app’s website.
Created by Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng who is the OurEquity NPC, with technical expertise from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health and best-selling author, the app offers invaluable information on the anatomy and physiology; the reproductive health cycle; hormone therapy; infections, sexual pleasure, safer sex tools, pregnancy management, and outcomes, as well as distress and post-violence information.
“As it stands, queer, trans, and gender-diverse people adolescents, and cisgender women continue to experience. So, the content in this app has been structured to affirm, respect, and promote access to the information they need, whenever they need it,” the app reads.
One of our favorite things about this app on The Fuse is that it is available in English, Sesotho, and isiZulu. “Dr. T” as she is affectionately known, had always dreamed of ordinary people having access to information about sexual and reproductive health as it is a basic need and human right.
In June 2022, she launched the app, and just a few months later, it is being used by teachers and community health workers as well. The app is available on iOS and Android.
