Overview
mPower, in partnership with REAN Foundation, developed MEETA, a Generative AI-driven mental health chatbot assistant designed to improve access to mental health awareness, early support, and referral pathways for youth in Bangladesh. The solution was recognized as the winning mental health innovation under the ADB-PATH Technologies Beyond Borders Innovation Challenge in 2024, highlighting mPower’s growing experience in applying digital innovation, artificial intelligence, and health systems thinking to address mental health service gaps.
Description
Problem
Mental health remains a major public health challenge in Bangladesh, particularly among young people. Stigma, low awareness, delayed detection, limited access to professionals, and weak integration of mental health support into primary care continue to prevent many youths from seeking timely help. As a result, young people often struggle to access reliable information, early guidance, and appropriate counselling or referral support when they need it.
How Our Solution Solved It
MEETA was developed as an anonymous, accessible, culturally sensitive, and Bengali-language-enabled digital assistant to make mental health support more approachable for young people. The chatbot uses Generative AI to support natural, conversational, and user-friendly interactions, allowing users to ask questions, understand mental health concerns, receive self-care guidance, and access referral pathways to professional counselling support.
The solution was designed for use through familiar digital platforms such as WhatsApp, reducing the need for separate applications or complex onboarding. Its key features include anonymous engagement, stigma-sensitive communication, Bengali and culturally relevant content, AI-enabled conversations, referral linkage with counselling and professional support services, and anonymized data insights for continuous improvement.
Through this initiative, mPower combined its experience in digital health systems, local implementation, stakeholder coordination, health communication, research, and technology-enabled service delivery to deliver a youth-focused mental health support model for Bangladesh.
Results
MEETA successfully reached 2,000 university students in Dhaka, creating a youth-friendly pathway for mental health awareness, early support, and referral to professional counselling services. The initiative strengthened access to private, stigma-sensitive, and culturally relevant mental health support through a Generative AI-driven chatbot assistant.
The solution also built on strong prior validation experience, including chatbot-based mental health support tested with 50+ users and related digital health assistant deployments used by 1,000+ users globally. This demonstrated mPower’s capability to apply AI-driven digital health solutions for scalable, accessible, and referral-linked mental health support in Bangladesh.