Mobile phones for health education in the developing world: SMS as a user interface
Abstract
Uganda suffers from a severe shortage of professional healthcare workers. Thus, programs aimed at prevention of disease are an important complement to the limited healthcare delivery system. We analyze two deployments of an SMS-based HIV/AIDS education system that uses a quiz format to assess people's knowledge of the disease, including its causes and methods of prevention. The deployments were to two groups in Uganda, one a sample of mobile phone users who live in a town in northwest Uganda; the other, workers at three factories in central and southeastern Uganda. The two samples had accuracy rates above chance levels and workers at the three factories had higher rates of participation (more individuals and more questions) than the sample selected from the cell tower service area. An analysis of incorrect answers suggested that while participants had some difficulty in matching the formatting required by the quiz, literacy did not appear to be a significant problem. We discuss the results in terms of implications for using SMS as a user interface mechanism and explore the possibility of using social ties among participants as a way to promote the scalability and sustainability of this quiz-based education method.
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The use of short messaging services (SMS) through mobile phones is an emerging tool that can promote the adoption of healthier behaviors, including the reinforcement of oral health education messages.
“The use of short messaging services (SMS) through mobile phones is an emerging tool that can promote the adoption of healthier behaviors, including the reinforcement of oral health education messages. Such interventions can be an effective means of improving oral health outcomes.[17]”
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Self-citationScope and effectiveness of mobile phone messaging for HIV/AIDS care: A systematic review
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Self-citationVaziri, F., Eidi, M., Maybodi, F. R., Dehkordi, N. R., & Khoddami, N. (2025) · Journal of Education and Health Promotion · doi:10.4103/jehp.jehp_1408_24
“[19] Providing health information on disease prevention and treatment can be effectively and affordably communicated to people through short messaging services.”
- Authors
- Danis, C. M., Ellis, J. B., Kellogg, W. A., van Beijma, H., Hoefman, B., Daniels, S. D., & Loggers, J.-W.
- Affiliations
- IBM (United States) (US)
- Text to Change Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Text to Change Uganda, Kampala, Uganga
- Text to Change Uganda, Kampala, Uganda
- ORCID
- Kellogg, Wendy A.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the First ACM Symposium on Computing for Development
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2010-12-17
- Pages
- 1-9
- OpenAlex
- W1977037217
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 22.74
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- ACM Symposium on Computing for Development (ACM DEV) (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › ICT in Developing Communities
- Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
- Keywords
- mobile devices, HIV/AIDS education, quiz-based learning, health literacy, health workforce shortage, disease prevention, industrial workers, mobile phone users, scalability and sustainability, social ties, Uganda
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