Table 1.
Short message service (SMS) interventions for disease prevention
| Intervention (reference) | Country | Disease | Description | Comments |
| It begins with you [22] | 30 African countries | HIV/AIDSa | SMS voting system on what happened on the show, asked viewers to share what they have done to advance an HIV-free generation, and encouraged all Africans to start by knowing their HIV status. | Target: population; status: ended after 1 season |
| Star Project [23] | 6 African countries | HIV/AIDS | Counterpart to India’s Freedom from HIV project. SMS used for downloading 2 mobile phone games (AIDS Fighter Pilot and AIDS Penalty Shoot Out) to raise HIV/AIDS awareness, deployed on low-end and sophisticated colored devices. | Target: population; technology: ZMQ; specificity: developed English and 2 local languages (Kiswahili and Shen) |
| Talk Back [24] | Botswana | HIV/AIDS | Weekly television program for HIV prevention, broadcasted live, to stimulate interactivity with teachers and viewers through phone lines, SMS, emails, and letters. | Target: teachers and students |
| UNICEFb [25] | Central African Republic | Measles, malaria, diarrhea | Multimedia campaign used SMS to encourage vaccination, use of long-lasting insecticidal nets, and hand-washing. | Target: parents of young children |
| Text Me! Flash Me! [26,27] | Ghana | HIV/AIDS | Health education and promotion messages sent to mobile phone numbers collected by peer educators and social networks. Clients who text in “HELP” were referred to live helpline counselors, who called back within 24 hours. | Target group: most-at-risk populations: men who have sex with men and female sex workers |
| eQuest [28] | Kenya | HIV/AIDS | Contest engaged youth in discussions about HIV/AIDS. Youth sent SMS answers to questions about HIV/AIDS received on their mobile phone, after checking information in a special eQuest column printed in the newspaper. | Target: youth; incentives: airtime, T-shirts, mobile phone, computers, DVD players, and a home theatre system |
| Makutano Junction [29,30] | Kenya | HIV/AIDS | Soap opera based in a fictitious Kenyan village supported by SMS. Viewers were invited to text in if they needed more information on a given topic. | Target: population |
| Mobile4Good [31] | Kenya | HIV/AIDS | “My question” allowed customers to anonymously ask HIV/AIDS and breast cancer-related questions and receive answers via SMS. “Health Tips” provided subscribers with useful tips on various pertinent health issues via SMS. | Target: population |
| Afriafya [32] | Kenya | HIV/AIDS | Community resource centers worked with information and communication technology to access various information, including on health, via SMS request or other means of communication. Answer was sent back by email, booklet, or SMS. | Target: rural population; technology: telecenter |
| Pariah News [33] | Madagascar | HIV/AIDS | Citizen media-enabled project that broadcasted HIV/AIDS message via SMS, Internet radio, and blogs. | Target: sex workers; technology: Ushahidi platform, open source |
| Health On Line [34] | Mali | HIV/AIDS, malaria | Social marketing campaign that used bimonthly free SMS with health slogans and reference to an interactive sexual health website. | Target: young, urban people (n = 350,000) |
| Learning about Living [35,36] | Nigeria | HIV/AIDS and SRHc | Health promotion and prevention was based on HIV/AIDS, SRH, maternal morbidity, and gender violence with (1) MyQuestion: HIV/AIDS-related questions sent by public via SMS, Web, or hotline, answered by trained counselors, (2) MyAnswer: prizes won by texting correct answer to a quiz. | Target: young people; incentive: airtime; scaleup: in existing and new states |
| RapidSMS [37] | Nigeria | Malaria | SMS helped deploy bed nets by (1) tracking commodities from state stores to distribution points by monitoring coupon distribution, (2) sending SMS reminders about distribution times and location for beneficiaries. | Target: population; technology: RapidSMS (UNICEF innovation); license: open source |
| Beat It [38,39] | South Africa | HIV/AIDS | Free SMS to enter the draw for prizes that motivated people to check results on Beat I t television program. Designed to promote positive living, treatment access, and HIV infection prevention. | Target: youth; technology: Cell-Life; incentives: mobile phone, airtime |
| Cell-Life [40,41] | South Africa | HIV/AIDS | Mass messaging for prevention, linking clinic and patients to peer-to-peer support and counseling at no charge, through a computerized capture of mobile phone number and automatic SMS back with the information. | Target: patient; technology: Cell-Life; license: open source; multicomponent project; status: ongoing |
| Project Masiluleke [42,43] | South Africa | HIV/AIDS | Project provided several mobile phone-based applications for HIV/AIDS care: “Access Information” and “Get Tested”. Health promotion messages broadcasted in unused space of “Please Call Me,” a free form of SMS widely used in Africa. | Target: population; technology: SocialTxt from Praekelt Foundation; license: open source; multicomponent project compliance |
| South African Depression and Anxiety Group [44] | South Africa | Mental health | National toll-free suicide helpline and SMS for adolescents in crisis. | Target: young people; status: ongoing |
| Digital mosquito net vouchers [45] | Tanzania | Malaria | Implemented long-lasting insecticidal net distribution using SMS voucher system for controlling counterfeited voucher. | Target: pregnant women |
| Kimasomaso [46,47] | 6 African countries | SRH | Radio program transmitted voices of young people keeping audio diaries, associated with helpline. Also provided SMS to redirect callers and text senders to local support. | Target: young people |
| AppLab [48] | Uganda | HIV/AIDS, SRH | Leveraged existing Village Shared Phone Operators to deliver mobile information services in health and agriculture with (1) SMS-based health tips and searchable database, (2) “Clinic Finder”, to locate nearby health clinics and services. | Target: population; technology: AppLab applications |
| Text to Change [49-51] | Uganda | HIV/AIDS | Interactive SMS quiz designed to help resolve key issues around HIV transmission and prevention, in the form of a multiple choice questionnaire that guaranteed free voluntary counseling and testing services to participants who answered correctly. Three quizzes offered weekly in English. | Target: population (15,000); incentives: voluntary counseling and testing services, airtime and mobile phone; status: ongoing, plan for Uganda and other African countries |
| UNICEF [52] | Zimbabwe | Cholera | Nationwide SMS information campaign during larger cholera campaign. | Target population |
| China Netcom [53] | China | SRH | SRH education and awareness campaign with SMS and hotline that gave access to medical experts. | Target: population and teenagers |
| SARSd education [54,55] | China | SARS | Mobile phone subscribers could call an SMS that alerted them if they were within 1 km of a SARS-infected building, where confirmed cases existed, and about news updates. | Target: population; license: proprietary, mobile operator |
| Indonesia: Community Based Avian Influenza Control Project [56] | Indonesia | Avian influenza | SMS-based contest to encourage travelers in buses to be careful and to test their knowledge on the diseases. | Target: population; incentives: airtime |
| Condom Condom Campaign [57,58] | India | HIV/AIDS | Condom use promotion and HIV/AIDS awareness campaign among young men with (1) SMS opinion to vote on HIV/AIDS issues, (2) condom-themed mobile phone ringtone using SMS to get a push in reply, from where the user could download the ringtone. | Target: men; incentives: mobile phone and free talk time |
| Freedom HIV/AIDS [59] | India | HIV/AIDS | SMS used for (1) downloading mobile phone games to raise HIV/AIDS awareness, deployed on low-end and sophisticated colored devices, (2) announcement of radio shows on HIV/AIDS, (3) information on the nearest HIV testing center. | Target: population; technology: ZMQ; specificity: developed in local languages |
| Heroes Project [60,61] | India | HIV/AIDS | Multiple media channels including SMS to get key messages on HIV/AIDS out to the general public. | Target: population |
| Indian tuberculosis campaign [62] | India | Tuberculosis | Public awareness campaigns used SMS for tuberculosis information. | Target: population |
| Breast cancer awareness [63] | India | Cancer | SMS as reminder to conduct breast self-examination. | Target: working women in private companies |
| Global Hand-washing Day/UNICEF [64] | Nepal | Diarrhea | Public awareness campaign used SMS to encourage hand-washing. | Target: population |
| Mobilink [65] | Pakistan | Polio | Broadcasted millions of SMSs to encourage parents to get their children vaccinated against polio. | Target: parents; specificities: initiative of services provider |
| Sex-Ed Text [66] | Philippines | SRH | Computerized system using SMS to receive and then return the keyword of interest for getting complete and free information. | Target: young people |
| CardioNet [67] | Mexico | Cardiac diseases | Public prevention campaign in which users took a quick cardiac assessment screening by SMS. | Target: population; technology: Voxiva; license: proprietary |
aHuman Immunodeficiency Virus/acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.
b United Nations Children’s Fund.
c Sexual and Reproductive Health.
d Severe acute respiratory syndrome.