Assessing the Potential for Text-Messaging to Improve HIV/AIDS Care in Malawi

The purpose of this project was to collect and analyze information critical for the development of a RapidSMS tool to be piloted in Malawi in the summer of 2010.  The desired impacts of this deployment are the optimization of government health initiatives to trace HIV/AIDS positive mothers and exposed children through PMTCT programs, as well as the expedition of the delivery of EID test results. As part of the project planning phase, extensive desk and field research was conducted in order to provide UNICEF with the necessary documentation of the EID and patient tracing processes, as well as technology profiles and human resource organization at health facilities within the intended pilot project catchment area. Additionally, relevant comparative studies were conducted with past and current SMS projects in Malawi in order to derive lessons which can help the RapidSMS HIV/AIDS project as it moves into the design and implementation phase. While this is not the first deployment of RapidSMS in development programs, the HIV/AIDS RapidSMS Project differs from its predecessors in some significant ways. Most importantly, this project represents a movement away from simple data transfer and processing to a program intended to have an action-triggering impact. This study has revealed a number of opportunities and challenges with respect to this project objective for consideration by the UNICEF project team.