BehavioR: a digital platform for prevention and management of behavioural addictions

Behavioural addictions have been identified as an emerging public health problem. The unprecedented pace of the digital revolution, resulting in an ever-increasing use of internet-based technologies, provides the opportunity to create a unique resource to assist in offering public health interventions in the World Health Organization South-East Asia Region. The ability to deliver evidence-based treatment and preventive programmes that can be accessed by mobile phones, for example, increases access to a wide range of populations, including hidden or hard-to-reach populations. BehavioR (the Behavioral addictions Resource hub) has been established with the aim of offering a one-stop resource centre for behavioural addictions. The expected end-users of this digital platform include patients, caregivers, the general public, health-care providers, academics, researchers and policy-makers. The platform can be used to offer digital health interventions to patients; strengthen the capacity of health-care providers for early detection of, screening for, intervention in and management of behavioural addictions; and serve as an online repository for reliable information on behavioural addictions for the general public.