Mass Messaging and Health Risk Reduction : Evidence from COVID-19 Text Messages in Tajikistan
Can mass public health messages change behavior during a crisis? This paper assesses the impact of a COVID-19 focused text-messaging campaign launched in May 2020 with the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Tajikistan to encourage complian...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/424981629731059341/Mass-Messaging-and-Health-Risk-Reduction-Evidence-from-COVID-19-Text-Messages-in-Tajikistan http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36196 |
| Summary: | Can mass public health messages change
behavior during a crisis? This paper assesses the impact of
a COVID-19 focused text-messaging campaign launched in May
2020 with the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of
Tajikistan to encourage compliance with risk reduction
measures. The initiative sent a series of informational
messages to about 5.5 million mobile phone subscribers and
reached at least one member of more than 90 percent of the
country’s households. An individual fixed effects estimator
is used to measure changes in reported behavior after a
respondent lists text messages as a primary source of
information about COVID-19, or alternatively when reporting
an official text message in the past week. Listing text
messaging as a primary source of information increased the
number of reported behaviors by 0.15 units (p = 0.000) and
receiving an official text message in the past week
increased the number by 0.47 units (p = 0.000). These
effects were driven by more positive responses for wearing
masks, reducing visits with friends and relatives, reducing
travel, practicing safer greetings (such as fewer
handshakes), and safety-related changes at work. The results
suggest that text messaging–based public health messaging
was a cost-effective means of increasing awareness in a
large and geographically dispersed audience during the
COVID-19 pandemic and that the program led to an increase in
self-reported risk reducing behaviors. |
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