Medicine by Text Message: Learning From the Developing World

Preggify is a telehealth platform that provides 24-hour support for pregnant women, where they can connect with doctors, get prescriptions and receive guidance on how to navigate their pregnancy. The platform also organizes weekly educational classes, conducts regular vital and blood pressure measurements and also monitors expecting mothers’ mental health. The platform was founded in 2022 and has built a community of about 2,000 women.

The WhatsApp group SURG Africa and remote Managed Clinical Network connect district hospitals with specialists, like surgeons and anesthesiologists, who can provide support and advice on difficult medical cases. The goal of the group is to improve healthcare services available and increase access to necessary care, specifically in rural areas.

The JEAY Healthcare app connects students with quality healthcare regardless of their location. App users can schedule appointments, meet with doctors over the phone or video calls and access an online pharmacy. Since launching in February 2023, the app has had over 300 downloads and sees about 130 daily users.

Famasi is a digital medication management platform that obtains a patient’s medication history and creates an individual care plan. The care plan includes a specialist who tracks drug use and side effects and also ensures medication is delivered to patients’ doors on a monthly basis. Because Famasi is available on mobile apps, patients can also track their medications and appointments from the comfort of their homes, which increases medication access, especially for those who struggle to make it to in-person care centers.

After deducing that preeclampsia was "the number one cause of maternal hospital readmissions and maternal mortality," doctors at Penn Medical began sending new mothers home with a blood pressure cuff and then texting them for readings. Proving to be a successful intervention methodology, this practice has expanded to other hospitals in the state and may soon scale nationally.

To remind tuberculosis patients to take their medication, hospitals in India incorporated the use of mobile phones. When patients received their medication by mail, the packaging material instructed them to call a toll-free number, which allowed the healthcare providers to check back in on those that did not call.

Competent transgender care can be hard to access for many, but an organization that is utilizing a telehealth approach is helping to fill the gap in five states across southeastern United States. Although the video conferencing solution can't act as a replacement for a primary care doctor due to the geographical difference, it does provide consistent care for transition-related services.

CARE Nigeria created a WhatsApp chatbot in 2022 to combat vaccine misinformation. The chatbot provides parents with real-time answers about childhood immunizations, nearby clinic locations, vaccine schedules and side effects, available 24/7 without judgment. To drive awareness, CARE ran a Facebook advertising campaign from December 2022 to February 2023, reaching 3.6 million people.

Anambra State’s telemedicine program is closing the healthcare access gap in rural communities, making universal health coverage more possible. The program began in 2022 and has since hired and trained 42 doctors in providing remote healthcare. As more people use the telemedicine program, public trust in primary healthcare across the region is increasing.

Some youth are using mental health apps to supplement therapy or help them manage their emotions, making mental health care more accessible. While there are limitations regarding the apps’ regulations and validity, some research has found that mental health apps have moderately reduced anxiety, depression and suicide risk among the youth who use them.