Texting Programs for Public Health in Africa

In any low resource setting, communicating about health and wellness can be a challenge. Fortunately, in Africa, a growing network and the adoption of mobile devices is making great progress in this area. For instance, in Kenya, “mobile money has boosted the economy, revolutionized retail, and changed how people shop and pay for goods and services.”  In these low resource communities, the use of mobile health technologies is also different than in developed countries. There is less use of high-end smart phones and sophisticated apps and more use of SMS texting. This is enabling communication, such as,  public health reporting of epidemics from rural areas. It can also enable simplified telehealth including remote monitoring of vital signs.  

 

Community health workers pervasive in Africa provide much of the care to remote communities and community clinics. Text messaging can help educate these workers by sending reminders about diagnosis and treatment of common conditions. In other similar low resource settings, texting is being used in diabetes prevention, sending twice-weekly health reminder messages to one million in India, for instance.

 

Low resource solutions require both creative innovation and understanding of the health consumer, whether local healthcare providers or consumers in remote areas.