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Quantifying the impact of accessibility on preventive healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa using mobile phone data.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Wesolowski, A; O'Meara, WP; Tatem, AJ; Ndege, S; Eagle, N; Buckee, CO
Published in: Epidemiology
March 2015

BACKGROUND: Poor physical access to health facilities has been identified as an important contributor to reduced uptake of preventive health services and is likely to be most critical in low-income settings. However, the relation among physical access, travel behavior, and the uptake of healthcare is difficult to quantify. METHODS: Using anonymized mobile phone data from 2008 to 2009, we analyze individual and spatially aggregated travel patterns of 14,816,521 subscribers across Kenya and compare these measures to (1) estimated travel times to health facilities and (2) data on the uptake of 2 preventive healthcare interventions in an area of western Kenya: childhood immunizations and antenatal care. RESULTS: We document that long travel times to health facilities are strongly correlated with increased mobility in geographically isolated areas. Furthermore, we found that in areas with equal physical access to healthcare, mobile phone-derived measures of mobility predict which regions are lacking preventive care. CONCLUSIONS: Routinely collected mobile phone data provide a simple and low-cost approach to mapping the uptake of preventive healthcare in low-income settings.

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Published In

Epidemiology

DOI

EISSN

1531-5487

Publication Date

March 2015

Volume

26

Issue

2

Start / End Page

223 / 228

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Vaccination
  • Travel
  • Time Factors
  • Prenatal Care
  • Pregnancy
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Kenya
  • Infant
  • Humans
  • Health Services Accessibility
 

Citation

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Wesolowski, A., O’Meara, W. P., Tatem, A. J., Ndege, S., Eagle, N., & Buckee, C. O. (2015). Quantifying the impact of accessibility on preventive healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa using mobile phone data. Epidemiology, 26(2), 223–228. https://doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0000000000000239
Wesolowski, Amy, Wendy Prudhomme O’Meara, Andrew J. Tatem, Samson Ndege, Nathan Eagle, and Caroline O. Buckee. “Quantifying the impact of accessibility on preventive healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa using mobile phone data.Epidemiology 26, no. 2 (March 2015): 223–28. https://doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0000000000000239.
Wesolowski A, O’Meara WP, Tatem AJ, Ndege S, Eagle N, Buckee CO. Quantifying the impact of accessibility on preventive healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa using mobile phone data. Epidemiology. 2015 Mar;26(2):223–8.
Wesolowski, Amy, et al. “Quantifying the impact of accessibility on preventive healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa using mobile phone data.Epidemiology, vol. 26, no. 2, Mar. 2015, pp. 223–28. Pubmed, doi:10.1097/EDE.0000000000000239.
Wesolowski A, O’Meara WP, Tatem AJ, Ndege S, Eagle N, Buckee CO. Quantifying the impact of accessibility on preventive healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa using mobile phone data. Epidemiology. 2015 Mar;26(2):223–228.

Published In

Epidemiology

DOI

EISSN

1531-5487

Publication Date

March 2015

Volume

26

Issue

2

Start / End Page

223 / 228

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Vaccination
  • Travel
  • Time Factors
  • Prenatal Care
  • Pregnancy
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Kenya
  • Infant
  • Humans
  • Health Services Accessibility