Role of mobile health on patient enrollment for cleft lip-palate surgery: A comparative study using SMS blast text messaging in zimbabwe

Abstract

Background: Patients' lack of awareness of available services is a significant barrier to delivering surgical care in resource-limited settings. Short message service (SMS) text messaging is a potential means to disseminate this information in resource-limited settings, where rates of mobile phone usage are high. Methods: A blast SMS text informing local populations of upcoming cleft lip-palate (CLP) surgical services was distributed to 25% of the subscriber base 1 week prior to arrival of a (CLP) surgical team in Zimbabwe. A retrospective cohort analysis comparing characteristics of patients presenting to the CLP clinic in the year prior to (2016) and 2 years following (2017–2018) the implementation of the blast SMS text messaging system is performed to assess its impact. Results: Patients presenting to a single Zimbabwean CLP surgical program in the years with SMS messaging notifications were significantly more likely (52 [64%] vs. 5 [17%], P