ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2024
Mobile Phones and HIV Testing: Multicountry Instrumental Variable Analysis From Sub-Saharan Africa.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- To Whom Will You Send Automated Confidential SMS Invitations to Test for HIV? Results From an Acceptability Pilot Study in Northern Tanzania.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2025Article
- Trends in mobile phone ownership, frequency of number changes, and implications for public health service delivery in Uganda, 2010-2020.Scientific reports · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
backgroundSub-Saharan Africa has been a technological hothouse when it comes to mobile phone technology adoption. However, evidence on the role played by mobile technology on infectious disease prevention has been mostly limited to experimental studies.
objectiveThis observational study investigates the role of mobile phone connectivity on HIV testing in sub-Saharan Africa.
methodsWe make use of the novel and comprehensive OpenCelliD cell tower database and Demographic and Health Survey geocoded information for over 400,000 women in 29 sub-Saharan African countries. We examine, through ordinary least square and instrumental variable regressions, whether women's community distance from the closest cell tower influences knowledge about HIV testing facilities and the likelihood of ever being tested for HIV.
resultsAfter finding a negative and significant impact of distance to the nearest cell tower on knowledge of HIV testing facility (-0.7 percentage points per unit increase in distance) and HIV testing (-0.5 percentage points per unit increase), we investigate the mechanisms through which such effects might occur. Our analysis shows that distance to a cell tower reduces HIV-related knowledge (-0.4 percentage points per unit increase) as well as reproductive health knowledge (-0.4 percentage points per unit increase). Similar results are observed when the analysis is performed at community level.
conclusionsResults suggest that the effect of mobile phone connectivity is channeled through increased knowledge of HIV, sexually transmittable infections, and modern contraceptive methods. Further analysis shows that cell phone ownership has an even larger impact on HIV testing and knowledge. This paper adds to the recent literature on the impact of mobile-based HIV prevention schemes by showing through large-scale analysis that better mobile network access is a powerful tool to spread reproductive health knowledge and increase HIV awareness.
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