ArticleTrials2019
Do mobile phone-based reminders and conditional financial transfers improve the timeliness of childhood vaccinations in Tanzania? Study protocol for a quasi-randomized controlled trial.
Article in Trials, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
mHealth-Assisted Conditional Cash Transfers to Improve Timeliness of Childhood Vaccinations
Leveraging Community Health Workers and a Responsive Digital Health System to Improve Rates and Timeliness of Child Well Visits in the First Year of Life
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effect of mHealth on childhood vaccination in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Birth and death notification via mobile devices: a mixed methods systematic review.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Design of an Automated Mobile Phone-Based Reminder and Incentive System: Application in a Quasi-Randomized Controlled Trial to Improve the Timeliness of Childhood Vaccinations in Tanzania.JMIR formative research · 2025Trial
- Mobile health interventions on vaccination coverage among children under 5 years of age in Low and Middle-Income countries; a scoping review.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Mobile Phone-Based Confidential Social Network Referrals for HIV Testing (CONSORT): Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2024Article
- Leveraging Community Health Workers and a Responsive Digital Health System to Improve Vaccination Coverage and Timeliness in Resource-Limited Settings: Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Type 1 Effectiveness-Implementation Hybrid Study.JMIR research protocols · 2024Article
- Development of culturally-appropriate text message booster content to follow a brief intervention focused on reducing alcohol related harms for injury patients in Moshi, Tanzania.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
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- Feasibility of SMS booster for alcohol reduction in injury patients in Tanzania.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
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- Patterns of Mobile Phone Ownership and Use Among Pregnant Women in Southern Tanzania: Cross-Sectional Survey.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2020Article
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundVaccination is a cost-effective strategy for reducing morbidity and mortality among children under 5 years old. To be fully protected from diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis, and polio, children must receive all recommended vaccinations in a timely manner. In many countries, including Tanzania, high overall vaccination rates mask substantial regional variation in vaccination coverage and low rates of vaccination timeliness. This study evaluates the efficacy of mobile phone-based (mHealth) reminders and incentives for improving vaccination timeliness in the first year of life.
methodsThe study, conducted in Mtwara Region in Tanzania, includes 400 late-stage pregnant women enrolled from rural and urban health facilities and surrounding communities. The primary outcome is timeliness of vaccinations among their children at 6, 10, and 14 weeks after birth. Timeliness is defined as vaccination receipt within 28 days after the vaccination due date. The quasi-randomized controlled trial includes three arms: (1) standard of care (no reminders or incentives), (2) mobile phone-based reminders, and (3) mobile phone-based reminders and incentives in the form of conditional financial transfers. Assignment into study arms is based on scheduled vaccination dates. Reminder messages are sent to arms 2 and 3 participants via mobile phones 1 week and 1 day prior to each scheduled vaccination. For arm 3 participants, reminder messages offer an incentive that is provided in the form of a mobile phone airtime recharge voucher code for each timely vaccination. Vaccination dates are recorded via participant contact with an mHealth system, phone calls with mothers, and a review of government-issued vaccination cards during an end-line survey. Random effects logistic regression models will be used to estimate the effects of reminders and incentives on the timeliness of vaccinations. DISCUSSION: The results will inform implementation science research on the effectiveness of reminders and incentives as a means of improving vaccination timeliness.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03252288 . Registered on 17 August 2017 (retrospectively registered).
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.