ArticleThe East African health research journal2020
Feasibility of SMS to remind pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV to take antiretroviral treatment in Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania: a pilot study.
Article in The East African health research journal, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of Digital Adherence Tools on Adherence to Antiretroviral Treatment Among Adults Living With HIV in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2021Trial
- A scoping review of mobile health for ART adherence in pregnant and breastfeeding women with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa: preferences, acceptability, and privacy concerns.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Forgetting to Take Medication, Treatment Adherence and Their Relationship with Viral Load Suppression Among People Living with HIV in the Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania.HIV/AIDS (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Article
- Expanding access to rehabilitation using mobile health to address musculoskeletal pain and disability.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2022Article
- A Mixed-Methods Pilot Study to Explore the Feasibility and Acceptability of SMS Reminders to Improve Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting among Adults on ART in Tanzania.Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS CareArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPregnant and breastfeeding Women Living with HIV (WLHIV) often have difficulties in reaching adequate levels of adherence (>95%) to Antiretroviral treatment. "Forgetting" is the most commonly mentioned reason. Sending reminders via SMS is expected to improve adherence. We conducted a pilot study to investigate acceptability, user experience and technical feasibility of sending reminder-SMS to WLHIV.
methodsThis was a 6-months observational pilot-study among WLHIV attending antenatal and postnatal care at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in Moshi, Tanzania. Women received a reminder-SMS 30 minutes before usual time of intake. One hour later, they received an SMS asking whether they took medication to which they could reply with 'Yes' or 'No'. Messages were sent 3 times a week on randomly chosen days to prevent reliance on daily messages. We calculated the percentage of number of SMS delivered, failed to be delivered, and replied to. We analysed feedback from exit-interviews about experience with the SMS-reminders.
results25 women were enrolled (age 18-45), 2 were lost to follow up. 5,054 messages were sent of which 53 failed to be delivered (1%). 1,880 SMS were sent with a question if medication was taken; 1,012 (54%) messages were replied to, of which 1,003 (99%) were replied with 'YES' and closely to 'YES', and a total of 9 (1%) with 'NO' and 'closely to NO'. 868 messages (46%) were not responded to due to either dropout, change of phone number, loss of phone or network failure. Results from 18 interviews showed that 16 (89%) women were satisfied with SMS reminders. 2 (11%) were concerned about unwanted disclosure because of the content 'don't forget to take medication' and one reported other privacy issues (6%). 3 (17%) women experienced stigma.
conclusion99%of SMS being delivered indicates that SMS reminders in this resource-limited setting are technically feasible. However, concerns regarding privacy were noted, specifically the risk of unwanted disclosure and the experience of stigma. Participants indicated that being made aware of their adherence, motivated them to adhere better. However, personalised and more neutral content of the SMS might be a way to improving the intervention.
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Registered trials
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