NAIROBI: Scientists at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) are working on optimising the mobile phone platform to increase awareness and adherence to routine immunisation. The Kemri researchers, Dr B O Ochieng and colleagues from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, noted that vaccines are effective prevention strategies for reducing childhood illnesses and death with about 2.5 million lives saved annually globally from immunisation programmes. Despite their lifesaving potential, between 1995 and 2006, approximately 24 million infants in low-and middle-income countries did not receive all scheduled vaccines and if they were vaccinated, it was often done late. In a study titled, ‘The feasibility of mHealth interventions to improve immunisation timeliness and coverage: formative research findings and determinants of mobile phone ownership and SMS usage in rural western Kenyan mothers,’ the scientists observed that given the increased mobile phone ownership in the country, it would serve as an appropriate communication tool to pass immunisation messages to parents and guardians. The team cited unequal access to mobile phones and proper framing of the SMS reminders as initial challenges to the roll out.
Text messages to promote immunisation in Kenya
Health & Science
By Kagundu Njiru | 8yrs ago | 1 min read
.
Trending Now
- The journey to being a doctor is not for the poor or faint-hearted
- Military top shots likely to succeed CDF Ogolla
- Patients agony as doctors in public hospitals hustle in private practice
- Struggles of a mother with an intersex child
- Crisis deepens as counties send home defiant medics
- Eating junk food during childhood may lead to irreversible memory issues
- 5 emergency contraception must-knows
- Renowned activist Asunta Wagura welcomes twins at 60
- WHO: Liberia, Benin, Sierra Leone roll out malaria vaccine
- Haemophilia: Unveiling the bleeding disease
.
Popular this week
- EAC Central Bank Governors meet in Juba as single currency race debate heats up
- The journey to being a doctor is not for the poor or faint-hearted
- Struggles of a mother with an intersex child
- Eating junk food during childhood may lead to irreversible memory issues
- Data privacy major challenge for Kenya's digital space, report
- Haemophilia: Unveiling the bleeding disease
- 5 emergency contraception must-knows
- Crisis deepens as counties send home defiant medics
- Liver transplant still unaffordable despite spiking cases
- WHO: Liberia, Benin, Sierra Leone roll out malaria vaccine
Previous article
.
Similar Articles
.
Latest Articles
Health & Science
By Rosa Agutu
2024-04-29 11:00:00
Health & Science
By Nancy Nzau
2024-04-29 11:00:00
Health & Science
By Xinhua
2024-04-29 06:30:00
Health & Science
By Nancy Nzau
2024-04-29 00:00:00
.