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. 2019 Jun 19;10(1):1032.
doi: 10.4081/jphia.2019.1032. eCollection 2019 May 3.

Providing mothers with mobile phone message reminders increases childhood immunization and vitamin A supplementation coverage in Côte d'Ivoire: A randomized controlled trial

Romance Dissieka  1 , Marissa Soohoo  2 , Amynah Janmohamed  3 , David Doledec  4
Affiliations

Providing mothers with mobile phone message reminders increases childhood immunization and vitamin A supplementation coverage in Côte d'Ivoire: A randomized controlled trial

Romance Dissieka et al. J Public Health Afr. .

Abstract

We conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess the effect of providing mothers with mobile voice or text (SMS) reminder messages on health facility attendance at five infant immunization and vitamin A supplementation (VAS) visits. The study was conducted at 29 health facilities in Korhogo district. Mothers were randomized to receive a voice or text reminder message two days prior to each scheduled visit and two additional reminders for missed doses (n=798; intervention group), or no phone reminder messages (n=798; control group). Infants in the intervention group were 2.85 (95% CI: 1.85-4.37), 2.80 (95% CI: 1.88-4.17), 2.68 (95% CI: 1.84-3.91), and 4.52 (95% CI: 2.84-7.20) times more likely to receive pentavalent 1-3 and MMR/yellow fever doses, respectively, and 5.67 (95% CI: 3.48-9.23) times more likely to receive VAS, as compared to the control group. In the reminder group, 58.3% of infants completed all five visits, compared to 35.7% in the control group (P<0.001). Providing mothers mobile phone message reminders is a potentially effective strategy for improving immunization and VAS coverage in Cote d'Ivoire.

Keywords: Cote d’Ivoire; immunization; infant; mHealth; vitamin A.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: the authors declare no potential conflict of interest.

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