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August 16, 2007
Over 150 Examples of Text Messaging for Health
Dr. Rifat Atun and his colleagues at Imperial College, London have carried out a systematic review carried of the use of text-messaging in the delivery of health care.
An Economist review of Prof. Atuns study points to some very powerful effects. For example text-message reminders in the UK have reduced the number of missed appointments with family doctors by 26-39% and missed hospital appointments by 33-50%.
Also as the review takes pains to document, "Text messages can also be a good way to disseminate public-health information, particularly to groups who are hard to reach by other means, such as teenagers, or in developing countries where other means of communication are unavailable. Text messages have been used in India to inform people about the World Health Organisation's strategy to control tuberculosis, for example, and in Kenya, Nigeria and Mali to provide information about HIV and malaria. In Iraq, text messages were used to support a campaign to vaccinate nearly 5m children against polio." See the entire review on: http://globaltechforum.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=rich_story&channelid=3&categoryid=7&title=A+text+a+day...%0D%0A&doc_id=8355
Prof. Atun is the man to watch in the field of mobile health. Anoter ofProf. Atun's studies featured by BJ Fogg on this blog on August 14 with the kind assistance of Ken Banks.
Prof. Atun's academic profile is available on: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/r.atun
Posted by Adam at August 16, 2007 10:09 AM