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Part of a Special Series Developed in Partnership With MobileActive.org

SMS messaging (text messaging) has become widely popular in recent years. For example:

• According to the Pew Internet & the American Life Project, two-thirds of American adults own a cell phone and over half of adults send or receive text messages.
• Teens are heavy users of texting technology. Pew reports that 13-17 year olds send an average of 1742 messages monthly.
• Nielsen Online reports the average number of monthly text messages far exceeds the average number of voice calls.
• A study by the Mobile Marketing Association, indicates that 41-percent of US mobile subscribers have unlimited text messaging.

MobileActive.org notes that communications campaigns utilizing mobile technology are neither easy nor inexpensive to initiate. For example, government agencies and non-profits are have been slower to adopt mobile than for-profit organizations due to regulatory, funding and other challenges. Despite this, a few government agencies have launched highly successful communications campaigns using mobile technologies.

Tracking Diabetes Care in Georgia

Georgia Tech, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and GoogleGeorgia created a campaign to encourage diabetes patients to use cell phones to document their condition. Participants sent information about their diet, glucose readings and meals via mobile to a diabetes education center. The educators at the center used mobile devices and other communications channels to respond to patients’ questions. Overall, data transmitted via mobile phones was more accurate than information gathered from weekly clinic visits.

Improving Sexual Health in California

The Internet Sexuality Information Service (ISIS) launched SEXINFO in 2006 to lower the high gonorrhea rates among African Americans in San Francisco. Users of the service texted sexual health questions to SEXINFO and received customized responses. ISIS, they received 4,500 inquiries into the program in the first 25 weeks of the program. (Click here to read a case study about the SEXINFO program published on Living the Path.)

ISIS and the State of California and the California Family Health Council launched another campaign in April 2009 called Hookup. Similar to SEXINFO, users sending messages to 395247 receive weekly sexual information and tips.

Air Quality in Arizona

To protect citizens from poor air quality, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) sends text message alerts to people when a “high pollution advisory” is issued for the Greater Phoenix Area. Messages remind residents to drive less, cease from burning wood, and to stay indoors. 900 people have opted-in to the text messaging service.

These, and other government and non-profit organization campaigns, highlight the versatile and efficacious uses of mobile technology for the monitoring of health, health education and health communication.