A mobile-based healthcare utilization assessment in rural Ghana

Background: Identifying the needs of disadvantaged populations is essential to addressing those needs. Investigations of healthcare access in rural sub-Saharan Africa rely on in-person interviews and SMS, which have distinct limitations. Objectives: To use interactive-voice-response (IVR) technology to survey healthcare utilization patterns in rural Ghana. Methods: This project used IVR to survey healthcare behavior by mobile phone users in rural Ghana. Automated voice messages offered an 18-question survey in 5 local languages. Results: Out of >64,000 placed calls, 8,601 proceeded to the survey. Survey completion rate was 1.3%, for 827 full respondents, at a total cost of 5 USD for each full survey response. Conclusions: IVR has limitations, but the ability to engage rural populations with low time and resource investment is valuable. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.