Automated SMS Reminders to Parents on Their Cell Phones Can Significantly Improve the on Time Vaccination Rates Children in Pakistan

Sponsor

Aga Khan University (Other)

Overall Status

Unknown status

CT.gov ID

NCT01908946

Collaborator

World Health Organization (Other)

300

Enrollment

Location

Arms

Duration (Months)

59.7

Patients Per Site Per Month

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

The investigators plan to test the effectiveness of reminders to parents/guardians on cell phones through short messaging system (SMS) in improving the on-time routine immunization for children in Pakistan. SMS message as a reminder tool can be very effective in health care settings at public health scale. This study will be conducted in an urban- squatter settlement area, Ibrahim Haidry union council in Karachi. Parents/guardians of children randomized in intervention arm will be sent SMS reminders vaccination visit reminders at 6, 10 and 14 weeks of life.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Vaccination Failure	Behavioral: SMS reminders	N/A

Detailed Description

The immunization coverage in Pakistan is still well below the desired level, leading to continued polio transmission, large measles outbreaks and thousands of deaths from vaccine-preventable illnesses. A major reason for poor childhood vaccine coverage is the lack of awareness among parents regarding the need for immunization in children, and the importance of completing the entire series of vaccines. This result in significant drop-out between vaccines delivered at birth and later in the infancy period. Customized short messaging system (SMS) text can be designed as personally tailored messages to remind and inquire parents regarding vaccination for their children according to the EPI schedule. We plan to test the effectiveness of reminders to parents/guardians on cell phones through short messaging system (SMS) in improving the on-time routine immunization for children in Pakistan. This study will be conducted in an urban- squatter settlement area, Ibrahim Haidry union council in Karachi, Pakistan. Our experimental plan has three components: First, we will conduct baseline survey of parents at our study site to explore their preferences for text for immunization reminders. Simultaneously, we will develop a computerized application for reminders scheduling. This application will contain the phone number, message information, language preferences and date on which the message will be sent. It will be interfaced with the gateway to send the message. Lastly, we will conduct a randomized controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of automated SMS reminders to parents in improving the on-time vaccination rates in children. If the result shows that the vaccines compliance can be increased through the SMS reminders, this program can be incorporated with the existing systems to collect the cell phone numbers of parents at the time of child's first contact with the health system and sending auto generated reminders for vaccine compliance at national level.

Study Design

Study Type:

Interventional

Anticipated Enrollment :

300 participants

Allocation:

Randomized

Intervention Model:

Parallel Assignment

Masking:

None (Open Label)

Primary Purpose:

Supportive Care

Official Title:

Automated SMS Reminders to Parents on Their Cell Phones Can Significantly Improve the on Time Vaccination Rates Among Children in Pakistan

Study Start Date :

May 1, 2013

Anticipated Primary Completion Date :

Oct 1, 2013

Anticipated Study Completion Date :

Oct 1, 2013

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: SMS Reminders SMS reminders	Behavioral: SMS reminders SMS reminders for vaccination visit at 6, 10 and 14 weeks of life.
No Intervention: Standard verbal counseling One time standard verbal counseling at the time of initial visit and timing for EPI vaccines at 6, 10 and 14 weeks

Arm

Intervention/Treatment

Experimental: SMS Reminders

SMS reminders

Behavioral: SMS reminders

SMS reminders for vaccination visit at 6, 10 and 14 weeks of life.

No Intervention: Standard verbal counseling

One time standard verbal counseling at the time of initial visit and timing for EPI vaccines at 6, 10 and 14 weeks

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

Improvement in the vaccination coverage due to SMS reminders [12 weeks]

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:

N/A to 14 Days

Sexes Eligible for Study:

All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

Yes

Inclusion Criteria:

Child should be less than 14 days of age
Parent/guardian or at least one person in the household having a valid cell phone connection
Parent/guardian provides consent

Exclusion Criteria:

Child more than 14 days of age
Not a valid cell phone connection in the household
Parent/guardian not providing consent

Contacts and Locations

Locations

	Site	City	State	Country	Postal Code
1	Aga Khan University	Karachi	Sindh	Pakistan	74800

Sponsors and Collaborators

Aga Khan University
World Health Organization

Investigators

Study Director: Ibrahim M Abdel Rahim, MBBS, Ibrahim Mohamed ABDEL RAHIM

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

None provided.

Responsible Party:

Dr Abdul Momin Kazi, Senior Instructor, Aga Khan University

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:

NCT01908946

Other Study ID Numbers:

EM-2013-IER-RPC-TSA-008

First Posted:

Jul 26, 2013

Last Update Posted:

Jul 26, 2013

Last Verified:

Jul 1, 2013

Keywords provided by Dr Abdul Momin Kazi, Senior Instructor, Aga Khan University

Polio

Study Results

No Results Posted as of Jul 26, 2013