BMC Global and Public Health (Feb 2024)

Women’s cellphone access and ownership in rural Uganda: implications for self-care interventions

  • Willow Leahy,
  • Maryam Abomoslim,
  • Amy Booth,
  • Anna Gottschlich,
  • Nelly Mwandacha,
  • Hallie Dau,
  • Priscilla Naguti,
  • Beth Payne,
  • Laurie Smith,
  • Carolyn Nakisige,
  • Gina Ogilvie

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-024-00038-5
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Abstract Background The World Health Organization (WHO) call for cervical cancer elimination includes increasing global cervical screening coverage. HPV-based self-collection (HPV-SC) is a promising screening model for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and while digital technology, such as cellphones, can be used to streamline HPV-SC, there is limited data on digital technology penetration in LMICs. Determining women’s cellphone access is critical to understanding the feasibility of using cellphones to support HPV-SC. Methods This study is a secondary analysis of a larger clinical trial. Participants of a cluster-randomized trial comparing HPV-SC models in Uganda completed a survey, including questions about demographics, cellphone access/ownership, prior cervical cancer screening (CCS), and willingness to receive CCS information by text. A logistic regression model was used to determine adjusted rates of cellphone ownership using survey variables as factors. Results Of 2019 participants, 76.1% owned a cellphone. In non-cellphone owners (n = 483), 82.4% had daily cellphone access and 7.3% had no access. Compared to non-cellphone owners, cellphone owners were significantly older, more educated, closer to major health centers, more likely to have prior CCS, and more willing to receive a CCS text. In the logistic regression model, the aforementioned variables were all significantly associated with the odds of owning a cellphone. Conclusions As health care systems consider adopting HPV-SC, it is imperative to understand digital technology penetration. The majority of participants were cellphone owners and were willing to receive CCS information by text; however, significant socioeconomic and demographic differences remain between cellphone owners and non-owners. Further investigation is needed to understand whether HPV-SC using cellphones is feasible in similar settings. Trial registration ISRCTN, 12767014 . ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04000503 .

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