Did you know? The effect of SMS reminders on health screening uptake in Indonesia
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Marcus, Maja-Emilia; Reuter, Anna; Rogge, Lisa; Vollmer, Sebastian
- Source
- Subject
- I15
I18
I12
Screening Uptake
text message reminder
O15
C93
D83
mHealth
Health
Information
ddc:330
Health Systems
Noncommunicable Diseases
- Language
- English
While the burden of non-communicable diseases is rising in low- and middle-income countries, the uptake of screening for these diseases remains low. We conducted a community-based RCT in Indonesia to assess whether personalized and targeted text messages can increase the demand for existing public screening services for diabetes and hypertension in the at-risk population. Our intervention increased screening uptake by approximately 6.6 percentage points compared to the pure control group. Among those, who received and read the messages, the effect size is 17 percentage points. The intervention appears to work through a reminder rather than a knowledge effect. We conclude that text messages can be a cheap and easily scalable tool to reduce testing gaps in a middle-income country setting.