Text Messages Can Help Improve Adherence to ART

Mobile phones are already being used to deliver novel health interventions, but few data are available on their use for this purpose in resource-constrained settings, where cell phones are now ubiquitous. In this prospective randomized trial in Kenya, researchers provided 428 HIV-infected patients with mobile phones and then evaluated whether reminder text messages would improve their adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART).

All the patients had initiated ART in the 3 months prior to study enrollment (mostly with AZT/3TC + nevirapine), and 97% resided within cell phone network range. One third of the patients served as a control group, while the others received either short or long text messages, delivered either daily or weekly. The short…