The Saatchi & Saatchi AtPlay and Tin Can PR team
Early move by South Africa
According to the institute's CEO, Khalid Galant, South Africa is one of the early movers in term of developing and implementing an education tool of this kind. "The Swiss and German anti-doping agencies also launched their versions of apps this month and we are the third anti-doping agency to do so.
"The creation of this application is in response to the shift in how people retrieve information in order to make the anti-doping education material accessible to an even wider audience. Those that don't have i-phones can access the info via the new mobisite. We will monitor how these audiences utilise the tool and will look at extending the app to include Blackberry, Android etc. in the future.
"The app also provides us with a channel to communicate other anti-doping information to the users and a feature in the app titled 'news', which allows us to post current articles and issues on doping."
He is hoping that the app will be another tool in the fight against drugs in sport and says that this will be a new channel of communication to athletes/coaches and doctors. With the constant flow of new prescription drugs into the market, it is important that doctors and athletes have the most up to date information available at their fingertips.
"The free app will benefit our athletes, who can get quick access to the list of banned and permitted substances in sport, while medical doctors who treat athletes will be able to use the app to ascertain whether the drugs they wish to prescribe to their patients are banned or permitted," he adds.
"Now they can check the status of medication at the touch of a button and see which drugs are approved and which ones are banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
"For athletes concerned with testing positive, as the result of taking prescribed medications, it is important for them to understand that strict liability applies and that if they choose to take banned substances, they do so at their own risk."
Galant stresses the fact that the athlete is liable for any banned substances found in the body. "The mobile app enables them to check whether medicines that are prescribed to them are banned or permitted thereby reducing their doping risk," he says.
The drugs are listed according to their brand names as dispensed in South Africa and the app comprises an easily accessible list of banned and allowed medications, with over 3260 medications listed. The app also gives them the option of filtering their search by: prohibited at all times; prohibited in competition; prohibited in certain sports; and prohibited in males.
He says that the prohibited list is updated annually following an extensive international consultation process facilitated by WADA.
"For the last couple of years we have made this information available in a booklet format and on our website," he says. "Our athletes appear to be early adopters of new technology and have embraced the online administration of their anti-doping information over the past two years. Therefore I am confident they will quickly adopt the iPhone app as their primary resource to determine whether a drug is banned or permitted in sport."
Download the free application here or from the mobisite on http://m.drugfreesport.org.za
