SMS used to combat HIV

Project Masiluleke will send one million free text messages a day to encourage people to be tested and treated. Trials of the system showed that calls to counsellors at the National AIDS helpline in Johannesburg increased by 200% when messages were broadcast.

Project Masiluleke was set up to counter the high rate of new infections with HIV in South Africa. Many people only test when they are already seriously ill.

The initiative plans to broadcast millions of health messages every month to cell phones across South Africa. It is estimated that there are currently 43m handsets in a country of 49m people. Almost 95% of the phones are prepaid. This is near universal coverage.