The gamification of global health: could a game change your bad habits?

Thursday, September 25, 2014

From the #StopEbola song to the Aids Fighter Pilot game in India, fun is proving to encourage healthier behaviours

When presented with the choice of escalator or stairs, most of us chose to queue up for the escalator, even though walking up the stairs is better for our health. But what would you do if the staircase was a giant piano? A “fun theory” experiment tried exactly that and found that 66% more commuters opted for the stairs over the escalators, proving that fun can be a motivating factor for improving health.

Changing people’s behaviour for the better is part of what public health aims to achieve. Several health projects are already incorporating fun theory. For example, Unilever is using cartoon characters to get children to wash their hands and to stop the spread of preventable diseases. And in India, the Aids Fighter Pilot and Stop TB Cricket mobile phone games were designed to raise awareness of HIV/Aids and tuberculosis among young people. The games were appreciated by the target group andwere found to be an effective, quick and convenient medium for improving health.

Source: The Guardian (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Health Care
Tags
Base of the Pyramid, infectious diseases