Randomized Controlled Trial of the Impact of Mobile Phone Delivered Reminders and Travel Subsidies to Improve Childhood Immunization Coverage Rates and Timeliness in Western Kenya

Percent of fully immunized children (FIC) by study arm

FIC = One dose bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, three doses pentavalent (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B, haemophilus influenzae type b) vaccine, three doses polio vaccine and one dose measles vaccine. The proportion of FIC infants by 10 months of age in each of the intervention arms (SMS only and SMS + subsidy) will be separately compared to the control arm using statistical analyses that adjust for the cluster design and any socio-demographic variables that may be unequally distributed across study arms

Time frame: 10 months of age

Proportion of children vaccinated by study arm

The proportion of intervention arm infants that receive vaccination within 2 weeks of the scheduled date will be calculated for each dose of vaccine and compared to the control arm using statistical analyses that adjust for our cluster design and any socio-demographic variables that may be unequally distributed across study arms

Time frame: Within 2 weeks of each scheduled vaccine date

Proportion of children dropping out between doses

Comparison of the differences in percentages of children vaccinated with pentavalent1 and pentavalent3 in the interventions arms compared to this difference in the control arm using statistical analyses that adjust for our cluster design and any socio-demographic variables that may be unequally distributed across study arms

Time frame: Age 24 weeks

Proportion of children receiving measles and pentavalent vaccines by study arm

Comparison of vaccine coverage (pentavalent3 and measles, separately) between intervention and control arms

Time frame: Age 24 weeks (pentavalent only), 10 months and age 12 months

Proportion in each arm vaccinated by mobile phone ownership and by residential distance from a health facility

Vaccine coverage analysis stratified by mobile phone ownership and residential distance

Time frame: Age 12 months

Height-for-age,to evaluate if the interventions had impact on other health status indicators

Using regression, average height for age in each group will be compared across study groups

Time frame: Age 12 months

Direct costs for each intervention arm

Costs include SMS messages, the amount of travel subsidy transferred, and the tariffs and fees that are associated with using mobile-money. For each arm, these costs will be divided by the number of children vaccinated and comparisons will be made across study arms

Time frame: 25 months, approximate time period for deploying interventions

Bed-net usage, to evaluate if the interventions had impact on other indicators of health status

Proportion of children using bed-nets will be compared across study groups

Time frame: Age 12 months

Vitamin A coverage, o evaluate if the interventions had impact on other indicators of health status

Proportion of children who have received vitamin A supplementation will be compared across study groups

Time frame: Age 12 months