MobileActive.org recognizes World AIDS Day today, December 1, by featuring some of the organizations and programs that utilize mobile tech in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We hope that countries around the world will continue to fulfill their funding commitments in the fight against AIDS.
Designing SMS Reminders for HIV/AIDS Patients in Peru
SMS reminders are a key component of many mHealth programs targeting drug compliance among HIV/AIDS patients. This slidecast features the findings of Dr. Curioso and colleagues from their research in Peru. The slides address patient recommendations for SMS content and tone, program development, and concerns for cultural appropriateness.
Impact of a mHealth Intervention for Peer Health Workers on AIDS Care in Rural Uganda
This study came our way through a member, Larry W. Chang. Chang et al. evaluated the impact of a mHealth intervention for peer health workers providing AIDS care in Uganda. While the group found no significant difference in health between the study and controls groups, the peer health workers and patients involved showed broad support for the initiative, and improvements in patient care were found.
Text to Change
In our World AIDS Day roundup last year we covered a Kenyan pilot of Text to Change, an SMS-based quiz of HIV/AIDS knowledge. This year we got to learn about two deployments of Text to Change in Uganda.
Impact of a mHealth Intervention for Peer Health Workers on AIDS Care in Rural Uganda: A Mixed Methods Evaluation of a Cluster-Randomized Trial data sheet 954 Views
Author:
Larry W. Chang, Joseph Kagaayi, Hannah Arem, Gertrude Nakigozi, Victor Ssempijja, David Serwadda, Thomas C. Quinn, Ronald H. Gray, Robert C. Bollinger, Steven J. Reynolds
Publication Date:
Oct 2011
Publication Type:
Journal article
Abstract:
Mobile phone access in low and middle-income countries is rapidly expanding and offers an opportunity to leverage limited human resources for health. We conducted a mixed methods evaluation of a cluster-randomized trial exploratory substudy on the impact of a mHealth (mobile phone) support intervention used by community-based peer health workers (PHW) on AIDS care in rural Uganda. 29 PHWs at 10 clinics were randomized by clinic to receive the intervention or not. PHWs used phones to call and text higher level providers with patient-specific clinical information. 970 patients cared for by the PHWs were followed over a 26 month period. No significant differences were found in patients’ risk of virologic failure. Qualitative analyses found improvements in patient care and logistics and broad support for the mHealth intervention among patients, clinic staff, and PHWs. Key challenges identified included variable patient phone access, privacy concerns, and phone maintenance.
This guest post was written by Nithya Sambasivan, a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. A link to the complete paper (PDF) is here.
I spent a total of three months last summer conducting an ethnographically-inspired study of urban sex workers (USWs), where we designed, implemented and evaluated a phone-based broadcasting system for urban sex workers. I "hung out" at the solicitation locations and the drop-in shelters of Pragati, called Swati Manne. These Swati Mannes were not only places to rest for the USWs, with beds and TVs, but they also included a medical clinic and a payment area for MFI loans. The internship project was with Microsoft Research India. None of the interviews were audio-recorded. Only hand-written notes were taken.
Today, December 1st, is World AIDS Day, a day that is all about raising awareness, countering prejudice, and helping stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. MobileActive.org has put together some of the mobile projects and organizations we've covered recently that are innovating with mobile tech in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
RedChatZone: HIV Counseling via Mobile Instant Messaging Chat
This project is an innovative mobile-based platform for youth and young adults to learn more about HIV and to get support by offering them the ability to communicate anonymously and privately via MXit with a trained counselor.
Tanzania MOH and donors introduced reporting requirements for PMTCT (preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS) facilities to submit monthly reports to the district and regional levels for progam monitoring and decision making. Futures Group is responsible for collecting reports from PMTCT facilities across four regions. Sites are remote and there is no Internet, and no computers.
To meet the technical and budgetary challenges we developed IQSMS, an open source, freely available SMS reporting tool monitoring and evaluation data collection, to enable facilites to report on PMTCT indicators. IQSMS is used to track program activities at PMTCT sites in rural Tanzania using basic SMS mobile phone technology.
IQSMS is a freely available, software using SMS data in a predetermined format. Information is sent to a dedicated central laptop connected to Motorola mobile phones. The IQSMS software aggregates incoming SMS reports into an SQL database. Automated data quality checks, business rules and immediate notifications are sent to users ensuring that only validated data is added to the database. Aggregated PMTCT data is instantly available to district, regional and national managers based on role views.
FINALIST AND HONORABLE MENTION IN STOCKHOM CHALLENGE AWARD 2010
International Quality Short Message Services focus on development and implementation of a software technology that uses mobile phone to report data to a dedicated centralized computer. This will help coordinating medical care in various part of Tanzania. It is a project with great impact and potential for transferability particularly as the costs of telecom tend to decline with volume. It is a case of e-health, more clearly mobile e-health. International Quality Short Message Services makes health services available. a service which must be recognized. Congratulations.
Tool Category:
Resides and runs on a computer with tethered modem or mobile phone
Key Features :
The software uses SMS data in a predetermined format, sent to a dedicated central laptop connected to a Motorola mobile phone. The IQSMS software records incoming SMS reports into an SQL database. Automated data quality checks, business rules and immediate notifications are sent to users ensuring that only validated data is added to database. Aggregated PMTCT data is instantly available to district, regional and national managers based on role views.
IQSMS has reduced the time and costs associate with traveling to 535 facilities for data reporting, eliminated need to aggregate paper reports, reduced the need for expensive equipment, improved compliance in monthly reporting and has inspired confidence by rural healthcare workers that their results were accurately reported.
For the period from Jan –Dec 2009, 9867 total reports were submitted and 9400 reports were successfully validated. As the project takes advantage of mobile phones already owned by health workers, the training requirements are relatively low.
Main Services:
Information Resources/Information Databases
Tool Maturity:
Currently deployed
Release Date:
2009-12
Platforms:
All phones -- SMS
Current Version:
1.3
Program/Code Language:
C/C++
Organizations Using the Tool:
PMTCT facilities providing services to all mothers, fathers and children to infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. The plan is to scale up to include more PMTCT sites supported by AIDSRelief, the NGO we work with. The IQSMs has been demonstrated to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and we are thinking of introducing the system to other regions not supported by AIDSRelief.
RedChatZone: HIV Counselling via Mobile Instant Messaging Chat data sheet 7194 Views
In South Africa, the number of cellphones greatly outweighs the number of landlines. The National Aids Helpline (NAHL) is free to call from a landline, but regular cellphone rates apply. This makes the NAHL expensive to use from a cellphone, or people have to make use of public phones which are often within earshot of others.
Cell-Life and LifeLine worked together to make HIV counselling more accessible to young South Africans in a medium which is comfortable and familiar to them. Marlon Parker, who started the successful Angel drug counselling service on MXit, was brought in to implement a similar system.
MXit is a very popular downloadable (instant messaging) chat application, where users can add contacts and text/chat to each other at a very low cost. Without getting into a technical description of the system, here is the basic outline of how the service was created:
Can text messages help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS? Text to Change (TTC), a Ugandan NGO, thinks the
answer is yes. To prove it they have teamed up with Zain to launch an innovative project that utilizes a technology that has been rapidly expanding to make sure that HIV/AIDS does not do the same.
This paper presents our work in the design of a
SDS for the provision of health information to caregivers of HIV
positive children. We specifically address the frequently debated
question of input modality in speech systems; touchtone versus
speech input, in a new context of low literacy users and a health
information service. We discuss our experiences and fieldwork
which includes needs assessment interviews, focus group sessions,
and user studies in Botswana with semi and low-literate users.
Our results indicate user preference for touchtone over speech
input although both systems were comparable in performance
based on objective metrics.
In our day-long coverage of innovative HIV/AIDS campaigns, here is one from India. The question: How can you encourage men to use condoms to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS? The answer: Drive up sales of condoms with an innovative and often tongue-in-cheek multi-media campaign, including catchy ringtones featuring the jingle Condom Condom.
The BBC World Service Trust, the charitable arm of the BBC, has been running a public health campaign in four states in southern India and has now launched a campaign to make clear that "smart men use condoms."
Here is one scene, played out at a wedding: a mobile ringtone buzzes with a loud refrain "condom! condom!" The BBC Trust writes: "Embarrassing for the person holding the mobile phone? Not a bit of it - the reaction of those around the red-faced man is to see him as smart and responsible."
Today is World Aids Day, a day where individuals and organisations from around the world come together to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic.
Mobile phones are increasinly playing a key role in combatting HIV/AIDS, providing public education and information services, patient monitoring and support, data collection, emergency medical services, and even educational games.
We have written much on this topic, of immense importance to the world where there are now more than 33 million people living with the disease, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Throughout the day, we'll feature a few projects that use or have used mobile technology in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment that stand out.
Technology-based interventions for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS took a small but important place on the agenda at the recent 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, reports attendee Kate Jongbloed who runs an insightful blog on development issues. She reports for MobileActive from Mexico.
In a session entitled, “Reaching Millions: Youth, AIDS and the Digital Age,” a number of private and non-profit organizations presented their internet and mobile phone based approaches to the fight against AIDS. A full audio and video version of the panel can be found here.
In South Africa, mobile phones and HIV/AIDS are two pervsasive realities. Some 75% percent of children and adults in the country have mobile phones, and according to the National HIV Survey, 10.8% of people over two years old are living with HIV. Almost 1,000 AIDS deaths occur every day. Cell-Life, an NGO based in Cape Town, aims to address this growing AIDS epidemic by using mobile phones.
Cell-Life's "Cellphones for HIV" project continues with two new pilot projects. In one pilot, Cell-Life will collaborate with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in the Western Cape to provide information to communicty trainers and the wider HIV community. In the second pilot, Cell-Life will work with Soul City, which uses television and radio dramas to discuss issues such as social norms, health, and HIV/AIDS.
Can I get HIV after having sex for the first time? So goes one of the ten thousand SMS messages that teenagers in Nigeria have sent to Learning about Living.
Learning About Living is a project by One World UK, Nigerian NGOs, the MTN Foundation, and the Nigerian Department of Education using computers and mobile phones to teach Nigerian teenagers about sexuality and HIV/AIDS prevention.
Hyves, the 5-million-peope strong Dutch social network, has a clever HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, combining social network and viral marketing with mobile fundraising.
Use your Hyve to save a Life is a campaign from STOP AIDS NOW!. If you are in the Netherlands, you can send a text message to donate 1 Euro to the campaign.
Mobile phones are creating connections between people living with HIV/AIDS in Mexico. A recently completed pilot project called Zumbido allowed its 40 test users of diverse backgrounds to communicate about the daily challenges they face in a meaningful and lasting support network. Unlike other hotline or support mobile phone services, where a user calls one person for help, Zumbido functioned as a network, with each text message sent to every member of the support group.
Mobileactive had a conversation with Anna Kydd, one of the project coordinators of Zumbido. Zumbido -- "buzz" in Spanish -- provided its 40 participants with mobile phones and unlimited text messages. The large group was broken up into four smaller groups of 10. Each group had a mix of different types of people from urban and rural locations, all from the Mexican state of Jalisco. Each group also included a professional doctor or psychologist. "The role of the professional was not to be a sort of leader in the group, however," said Anna. "Everyone in the group was an expert in their own experiences, and they all had something to give that group."
