INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Can a mobile app help to address the opioid crisis in the United States That the goal behind FEND, an app that taking advantage of
technology solutions like machine learning and gamification to increase young people understanding of opioids and to change their behaviors
It the first large-scale attempt at running a public health campaign in the United States on a mobile device in this manner
And it already seeing some early success thanks to its sponsorship of Vans& Warped Tour and the endorsement of several participating bands
and artists.
Unlike traditional public health campaigns which use mass media, like billboards or TV ads to reach users, FEND [Full Energy No
Drugs] personalizes its material for each user.
The FEND app encourages downloads by promising users & young people who otherwise wouldn''t
bother with an educational anti-drug app & free swag they actually care about
For example: Vans Warped tour tickets, a trip to the Rock Roll Hall of Fame, Vans shoes, access to acoustic sessions at the Warped Tour
with bands like Waterparks and We the Kings; and in the future, if all goes well, a way to bring a concert produced by Warped Tour Kevin
Lyman to their own hometown.
The idea for FEND comes from serial entrepreneur Steve Huff, a North Carolina native who has been living in
Australia for the past eighteen years
During this time he has founded and headed a number of businesses, including automated publishing solution Typefi Systems; parenting
information resource Sixty Second Parent; and sustainable energy non-profit, The Light Foundation, where he authored a report for the UN on
the use of solar lighting in refugee camps, and ran a solar entrepreneurship program for teenage girls in Malawi.
For me, it always
important to combine innovation, entrepreneurship and some kind of social good,& Huff explained, as to his motivations around FEND.
The
problem FEND aims to address is to make public health campaigns more effective by individualizing the conversation for each user, while also
using the same sort of technology social apps leverage to addict their users.
The technology platform itself, iPug, uses gamification,
rewards artificial intelligence, and personalization techniques to make the information shared in the app relevant to the end users, and
It combines the evidence-based research it aims to share with technology, its own streetwear brand and & as the means of reaching the target
audience & music.
While there are obviously a number of ways this platform could be used in public health education, the company is focused
initially on an opioid educational campaign launched in partnership with the Preventum Initiative.
Above: Metalcore band Kublai Khan
sporting FEND apparel at Vans Warped Tour, Tampa
A large part of FEND following comes from its sponsorship of the final run of the Vans
Warped Tour, where it has a booth and the support of many artists who mention FEND on stage, send out messages to fans, wear FEND
merchandise, or even perform special sets for FEND.
For example, Waterparks, The Maine, We The Kings, The Interrupters, and others have
spoken for FEND.
So far, FEND has been downloaded 20,000 times, Huff said.
After the first 9,500 downloads, the company took a snapshot of
user behavior and found its engagement rate was 80 percent
And 79 percent of the kids said they would be &very likely& to talk to a loved one or friend who might be using.
In the app, users are
first presented with a baseline survey to get an understanding of how much they already know about opioids
Then across four modules, they learn more about the topic through videos, infographics, quizzes, motion graphics, and more, which combined
address key topics like how to spot the signs of an opioid overdose, or how to talked to a loved one about their addiction, and other
information about the drugs.
As users progress, the plan is to customize the app material to each person learning style & using the right
material and approach, by taking advantage of machine learning to personalize the experience.
Even if FEND falls short of being a success
as measured by traditional app store metrics, it a whopper for public health campaign
And its results can be life-saving.
We&re getting a lot of feedback from the kids, who said ‘I just downloaded this app to get free stuff
But I went to a party last week, and there was a kid in the corner
I went over and their lips were blue and their fingers were blue, and I checked their breathing
I knew they were overdosing, and I called 911
I put them in the recovery position, and the paramedics came, gave them Narcan and said I saved their life,'& Huff told us over the weekend,
in a backstage interview at Warped Tour.
John Hopkins is freaking out because they&re going to have the largest sample size for an opioid
study in history,& Huff enthused.
(A prior study of opioid deaths included over 13,000 overdose cases
But many studies range in the hundreds, in terms of participants.)
The company now wants to bring FEND to schools, through deals with state
governments.
We&ve been talking to state governments,& Huff said, noting the feedback has been positive, but talks are in early phases & no
&Alabama was like, look, we have morgues where we&re putting bodies out under the trees because we don''t have enough space,& he continued
&This is way bigger than anybody knows.
2016 was the last time the CDC reported statistics on the opioid epidemic
And at that point, we were losing 60,000 people a year to overdoses due to the use of opioids and heroin
And 80 percent of heroin users in the United States got their start on prescription pills,& Huff added
[He citing these numbers from the CDC.]
The United States has 4.3 percent of the world population, but we consume 80 percent of the world
opioid supply,& he said.
The goal is to bring FEND to states for a pilot in five states for a period of 14 months, to further prove out the
concept outside the progress made with the Warped Tour sponsorship.
The tech platform behind FEND, founded in late 2015, has raised $2
million in angel funding from Huff network of connections
The long-term goal is to offer the platform on a SaaS [software as a service] basis or through enterprise sales
It has also researched and aims to implement its own token economy on the Ethereum blockchain
This would allow other non-profits, celebs and movements the opportunity to run their own public health campaigns using the platform
These could be offered in their own white-labeled version of FEND app, focused on their own supported initiative.
For the bands involved, it
could also allow those with smaller followings a way to be reimbursed in tokens for bringing their followers to FEND.
The bigger picture
here is about taking advantage techniques common to tech companies drug companies, and others, and leverage them for public health campaigns
instead, Huff also noted.
We use the same techniques Big Pharma and Big Tobacco used to engage their users, and we turn the tables on them
And now we&re using those techniques to engage kids not to use opioids,& Huff said.&I&m a tech guy, I&m not a public health guy
So this is how a tech guy would design a public health campaign,& he added.
FEND is available on iOS and Android.
