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Text service brings health message to youth
Encouraged by the success of a confidential scheme introduced in February in Melbourn and Harston (UK), South Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust (NHS) has extended it to Linton and Sawston. By contacting the Health Text-Messaging service anonymously, 11 to 16-year-olds can get advice on sexual health, drugs, alcohol and even relationships, according to Cambridge News. Other campaigns/health advice text messaging services offered elsewhere: -- Dare To Say No!: A text messaging campaign launched by the European Union this year, to warn teenagers about the dangers related to smoking and tobacco. Launched April 1st in most European countries, it will continue until 2004. -- SMS campaign against cannabis: The British Lung Foundation (BLF) sent out 30,000 texts messages early March, to young adults to raise awareness that smoking cannabis can be harfmul to their health. -- A French government ministry, La Mission Interministérielle de lutte contre la drogue et la toxicomanie en France (Mildt), sent out 20'000 SMS last Spring, inviting young people to visit their website on drugs and alcool prevention. -- A wireless service in Singapore (where mobile penetration is greater than 75 percent - it's 51 percent in the US) encouraged young citizens to talk about sex last Fall, in a Sex in the Air campaign initiated by Action for AIDS. The service encourages subscribers to send sex-related questions by SMS to an international panel of doctors and health educators, with answered returned within 48 hours. |
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BULK SMS GATEWAY