FrontlineSMS technology useful communication tool in HIV care

Ben Parfitt, a member of the Ugunja Research Team in Kenya, writes in the FrontlineSMS blog about using the open-source text and communication software to improve HIV care for patients using Kenyan health clinics. Parfitt describes the results of a pilot study conducted in Ugunja, which found, among other things, that using the FrontlineSMS text-messaging software to provide disease prevention messages could not "substitute the face-to-face community meetings which penetrate many corners of life in Ugunja." He concludes, "By using a range of communications tools it is hoped that the health center [in Ugunja] can reach and help support as many people as possible" (11/15).