The Mobile Phone Survey arm is part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative. Launched in 2015, our work initially focused on Non-communicable diseasesNon-communicable diseasesNCD surveillance, as part of complementary work with the World Health Organization (World Health OrganizationWorld Health OrganizationWHO), to evaluate the feasibility of conducting nationally representative surveys using mobile phones to collect risk factors on Non-communicable diseasesNon-communicable diseasesNCDs.
Our work focuses on collecting reliable information about health risk factors to guide better health policies and programs. We collaborate with Data for Health Initiative partners, including Johns Hopkins University, World Health OrganizationWorld Health OrganizationWHO, national ministries of health and in-country and global stakeholders to develop and implement Mobile Phone SurveyMobile Phone SurveyMPSs. We aim to provide an accessible and cost-effective way to assess health needs and identify trends in data.
The world is more connected by mobile phones than ever before, creating new opportunities to collect health data by leveraging mobile phone technology. An Mobile Phone SurveyMobile Phone SurveyMPS is a quick and cost-effective surveillance approach to produce timely, affordable and accurate risk-factor data for partners and country stakeholders. Further, Mobile Phone SurveyMobile Phone SurveyMPSs enable rapid repeated data collection to track health outcomes, treatment adherence and behavioral changes over time, as well as monitor chronic conditions and evaluate health interventions and policies. This approach can support broad geographic coverage and large sample sizes in many settings where populations can be reached at scale with the continued expansion of mobile networks. Mobile Phone SurveyMobile Phone SurveyMPSs can be administered by different approaches depending on the needs and resources of the country or implementer. Our Mobile Phone SurveyMobile Phone SurveyMPS work utilizes Short Message ServiceShort Message ServiceSMS, Interactive Voice ResponseInteractive Voice ResponseIVR, mobile web and Computer-Assisted Telephone InterviewingComputer-Assisted Telephone InterviewingCATI modes of data collection to support flexible and context-appropriate implementation. Further, all data collected through these methods is fully anonymous and does not capture personal identifying information. Visit the Resources and Tools page for more information about Mobile Phone SurveyMobile Phone SurveyMPS methods.
Financial support was provided by the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative through the CDC Foundation.