Impact of SMS advertising on participation in mass vaccination campaigns and consequences for rabies control

Joel's aim is to investigate the potential of mass SMS advertising as a tool to increase participation during mass dog vaccination campaigns against rabies, particularly in hard-to-reach communities. He will aim to utilise the well-distributed mobile phone infrastructure in Tanzania to provide an alternative and unusual means of advertising that can potentially have a far greater reach in advance of the campaigns. His study will examine both the barriers and willingness to attend vaccinations and subsequently generate and evaluate SMS content aimed at increasing participation. Resulting findings will be used to develop a randomised controlled trial protocol for mass SMS advertising.

This grant was awarded under the scheme's previous name of Master's Fellowships in Public Health and Tropical Medicine.