Pfizer officially launches the Moodigo app – an app that hopefully will help Malaysians keep their mental health in check. The app lets you track your mood and set goals and routines that may benefit you in your daily life; it will also hopefully encourage those who need help with their mental state to seek professional help.

Depression affects over 2.3 million Malaysians, with almost 30% of the population suffering from some form of mental health issue. Indeed by 2020, mental health issues are expected to be one of the biggest health problems in Malaysia, only behind heart disease.

As such, the people at Pfizer are launching the Moodigo app. According to Noor Yang Azwar Kamaruddin of Pfizer Malaysia, they hope the app can help more people identify early symptoms of depression. This is because the app can improve your emotional self-awareness through its mood tracking features. The app could also help you talk to your psychiatrist better.

“With Moodigo, users are able to input their mood and track other daily routines such as number of hours of sleep and exercise. Most importantly, the app features useful tips on how to manage mental health and provides links to professional help should the need arise,” says Noor Yang.

The app has several features that can leverage some of the best principles in how to manage depression. Firstly, it lets users create goals to meet, and adjust them over time. It also allows users to track and provide input on how they are feeling throughout the day. This moodtracking through a mobile app instead of recapping events before sleep provides some benefits; the real-time tracking makes it easier to identify long-term problems and is more accurate. You could also share your feelings with other users if you’d like to. If the pressure does get to you, the app has several tips to improve mental health and a directory of local mental health professionals.

Pfizer are launching the Moodigo app in conjunction with the #everybodyisatrisk campaign to raise public awareness on mental health. The Malaysian Psychiatric Association and Malaysian Mental Health Association as well as several tertiary institutions are also supporting the campaign. Part of the campaign includes forums, roadshows, workshops and a handbook that helps provide essential knowledge on depression. The campaign also hopes to dispel the myths and misconceptions behind mental illnesses in Malaysia.

“Depression can be prevented and treated. Through our #everybodyisatrisk campaign, we hope to increase public awareness about mental illness and empower more Malaysians to recognise mental disorder early and seek the right treatment,” says Associate Professor Ng Chong Guan, Vice President of Malaysian Mental Health Association.

You can download the Moodigo app on either Google Play Store or the App Store.

If you feel that you may need more help, you can contact Befrienders at their hotline at +603-79568145.