and reduce the human and economic losses associated with what would otherwise be certain and untimely death.
In October 2008, Project M launched a mobile HIV-awareness campaign using simple text messaging, which has tripled volume into the South African National AIDS HelpLine, inspiring more than 150,000 people to reach out for help. We are now working to build on this response and encourage people to take the next step: to test early and regularly and stay on treatment. Our initial research demonstrated strong demand for a convenient, safe, and simple way to self-test, particularly among men who are absent from the system. The design has been refined through a highly collaborative research process involving young men in a range of South African communities. This work culminated in a live test in which we recruited young men who did not know their status to test for the first time. All completed the test with varying levels of mobile support.
We are also piloting mobile services that provide reminders to stay on treatment and track follow-up appointments. All together, these services represent a complete, end-to-end, patient-centric model for mobile health delivery. The project was recently praised by The Economist as “the world’s biggest field trial of mobile health technology.”
—Robert Fabricant / Frog Design robert.fabricant@frogdesign.com
November + December 2009
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Project Masiluleke is a breakthrough cross-sector collaboration that employs mobile technology as a high-impact, low-cost tool in the fight against HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in South Africa. Masiluleke means “give wise counsel” and “lend a helping hand” in Zulu; the project was born of the desire to address tremendous suffering and premature loss of life, as well as the understanding that the ubiquity of mobile devices in many parts of the developing world has the potential to catalyze transformative social change.
South Africa has more HIV-positive citizens than any country in the world. In some provinces more than 40 percent of the population is infected. Ineffectual public communication campaigns and the social stigma associated with HIV/ AIDS keep many from pursuing testing or treatment. Despite the widespread availability of HIV testing at all government clinics and free anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment, less than 5 percent of the population has been tested and knows their status. Only about 10 percent of those with AIDS, who qualify for ARVs, are currently receiving these lifesaving drugs. The majority of HIV-infected patients in South Africa seek care only after they become symptomatic with end-stage AIDS, at a time when they require the greatest resources and have the least likelihood of survival.
Project Masiluleke brings together a world-class coalition of organizations and domain experts (including frog design, Pop!Tech, i Teach, The Praekelt Foundation, MTN, and Nokia Siemens Networks) to test and scale up a powerful and integrated approach to fighting HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, to leverage the power of mobile technologies to address the entire disease lifecycle. The project aims to raise widespread public awareness about accessing help; move people to take action resulting in their getting tested for HIV and tuberculosis; encourage those who test positive into treatment; and help them adhere to treatment plans that will extend their lives
ABOU T THE AUTHOR Robert
Fabricant is the vice president of
creative for frog design, where he
works with a global team of strate-
gists, interaction designers, industri-
al designers. and design research-
ers. He is charged with helping to extend frog’s
capabilities into new markets and offerings such as
healthcare and service design. He also leads frog’s
Design for Impact initiatives, such as Project
Masiluleke, that focus on transformative opportuni-
ties to use mobile technologies to increase access
to information and accelerate positive behavior
change. You can follow him on twitter @fabtweet.
Image courtesy of frog design and Pop Tech
DOI: 10.1145/1620693.1620695
© 2009 ACM 1072-5220/09/1100 $10.00
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