Whatsapp Integration

Technical Support
1

Hey Medic Team,

Per the MOH request, we are exploring WhatsApp integration to compliment the SMS-based 2wT. Do you have any guidance or examples of other sites who have integrated WhatsApp?

Thank you very much!

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Hi @Beth !

It’s been a while, but back in 2022 I worked on a CHT deployment that successfully used Medic’s self hosted RapidPro instance to integrate with Twilio. Looking today, I see that TextIt (the commercial RapidPro offering) has information about linking up WhatsApp via Twilio. I wonder if this might be viable for your 2wT deployment?

To be sure, there’s additional expenses in going with TextIt and Twilio. There may additional be fees to use WhatsApp in this manner as well. Be sure to check out NGO discounts like Twilio’s Impact Access Program, which may help offset costs.

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Hello Beth,

The most established and flexible way to integrate WhatsApp with the CHT is by using an intermediary messaging gateway like RapidPro (or its hosted counterpart, TextIt).

This architecture is powerful because it allows you to manage multiple communication channels (WhatsApp, SMS, Telegram, etc.) from a single platform. RapidPro acts as a “switchboard,” intelligently routing messages from various channels to and from your CHT application.

Here is the recommended pathway with resources to get you started:

  1. Connect the CHT to RapidPro: This is the first step, enabling your CHT app to communicate with the RapidPro gateway. Our official documentation provides a detailed guide for this integration.

  2. Connect RapidPro to WhatsApp: To connect RapidPro to the WhatsApp network, you must use the WhatsApp Business API, which requires partnering with a Business Solution Provider (BSP).
    Resources:

We are very interested to hear how your exploration goes. Please feel free to post follow-up questions here as you move forward.

Thank you!

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This is helpful info - thanks @binod . Great to see the prior work in GitHub about WhatsApp that was done in the past shared here - I didn’t even know about it!

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This is awesome. Thanks @binod and @mrjones - super helpful kick-off for our team and we’re happy to share an update.

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