Current health awareness campaign strategies, efforts, and methods on NCDs have not produced improved outcomes in reducing the burden, spread, and deaths linked to NCDs in Tanzania. To support, compliment, and improve health literacy on NCDs and promote good healthcare, we designed and developed an interactive health Chatbot ‘afyaBot’ in Swahili language that can respond to user's requests concerning NCDs symptoms, prevention, management, and cure. The Chatbot was designed using Botsociety; a special tool for designing Chatbot prototypes; BotMan framework for coding the Chatbot logic and Google Dialogflow platform that offers high-level Natural Language Processing capabilities. The Chatbot was integrated into the Facebook Messenger platform which offers free public API access that eliminates the cost of the internet from the consumers. The Chatbot was tested for accuracy, usability, user experience, responsiveness, reliability, maintainability, and portability. The results of implementation were satisfactory and provide insights useful to stakeholders in the health sector. The interactive Chatbot was designed to provide real-time information on NCDs, create awareness, and educate users on preventive, control, and treatment measures of NCDs. It will likewise assist healthcare providers to collect accurate timely health data for monitoring, planning, and research purpose.

To examine challenges to health-literacy with a focus on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Tanzania and to develop a Chatbot for NCDs in Swahili language. Objective: To examine the challenges of health information dissemination in Tanzania; to analyse the opportunities offered by Chatbot to address the challenges of health information dissemination in Tanzania; to assess the readiness of users on the acceptance of an interactive Chatbot for NCDs in Swahili Language. Method: Survey was conducted amongst a sample of 100 participants at Wazo ward, Dares-Salam; Chatbot was designed in Swahili and integrated into Facebook Messenger to eliminate the cost of the internet from the end-users. Results: Challenges to health-literacy includes: inaccurate, inconsistent, untrustworthy, unreliable, untimely, contradictory, and confusing information; popular media such as TV programs and the Internet presents no opportunity for feedback, requests, or clarifications. Others are language barrier; high cost of internet, poor connectivity, the ratio of healthcare providers to patients, poverty, and traditional beliefs. There is a general acceptance of receiving health information through messaging apps. Conclusions: Chatbot for NCDs in Swahili language ‘afyaBot' could be strategic in affording Tanzanians access to adequate and timely information on NCDs, improve health-literacy, and promoting good health. Stakeholders and public policymakers in the health sector will find the study useful.