TY - JOUR T1 - Using Human-Centered Design to Develop, Launch, and Evaluate a National Digital Health Platform to Improve Reproductive Health for Rwandan Youth JF - Global Health: Science and Practice JO - GLOB HEALTH SCI PRACT SP - S244 LP - S260 DO - 10.9745/GHSP-D-21-00220 VL - 9 IS - Supplement 2 AU - Nicole Ippoliti AU - Mireille Sekamana AU - Laura Baringer AU - Rebecca Hope Y1 - 2021/11/29 UR - http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/9/Supplement_2/S244.abstract N2 - Key MessagesUsing a human-centered design (HCD) approach throughout the design and adaptive implementation phase with youth and key stakeholders led to major pivots in the product, implementation, and evaluation design of a digital health product for Rwandan youth.While using an HCD process to develop CyberRwanda, it was critical to include a diverse population of young people and community stakeholders as both collaborators and leaders in a youth-driven design process.Prioritizing equity of access led to the design of interventions for users with and without their own devices and with varying levels of digital literacy and experience using digital platforms.Key ImplicationsOrganizations developing digital health products for young people should consider taking an end-to-end human-centered design approach for the product development and intervention model.With increasing interest and investment in digital health interventions, especially those supporting direct-to-consumer products, funders should support and encourage funding and time for codesign, development, and prototyping with the intended audience in both the design and implementation phases.HCD practitioners designing for youth need to ensure appropriate representation of diverse groups of young people, take extra care to address power differentials between young people and designers, and ensure they have robust safeguarding policies and practices.Background:A lack of access to evidence-based, unbiased, and youth-friendly family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) information and care limit young people's ability to prevent unplanned pregnancies and HIV and sexually transmitted infections. This threat-ens their health and is a significant cause of school drop-out, limiting young peoples’ well-being, future potential, and employment opportunities. To address these challenges facing youth, YLabs used an end-to-end human-centered design (HCD) approach to create CyberRwanda, a digital platform aiming to improve the health and livelihoods of adolescents (aged 12–19 years) in Rwanda.Designing for digital with youth:From 2016 to 2020, CyberRwanda was designed and piloted using an HCD approach in partnership with more than 1,000 youth, parents, teachers, and public and private health care providers. During the problem recognition phase, HCD revealed participants’ beliefs, behavioral preferences, and experiences as they relate to FP/RH specifically and their broader life experiences, motivations, and challenges. Several phases of analog, digital, and live prototyping with youth and key stakeholders were used to codesign, test, and refine the intervention for implementation.Results:CyberRwanda is a direct-to-consumer platform where adolescents can learn integrated, age-appropriate health, and skills-building information through edutainment behavior change stories and a robust frequently asked questions library, order health products online, and be linked to CyberRwanda’s network of private and public health care providers who have been trained to provide adolescent-friendly care.Implications for future research:The HCD process resulted in significant pivots to the design of the digital platform and the implementation model. Using HCD provided a structured methodology to combine technical FP/RH expertise and visual and product design expertise to codesign and iteratively develop a digital health intervention with and for Rwandan youth. ER -