Heterogeneous mobile phone ownership and usage patterns in Kenya

The rapid adoption of mobile phone technologies in Africa is offering exciting opportunities for engaging with high-risk populations through mHealth programs, and the vast volumes of behavioral data being generated as people use their phones provide valuable data about human behavioral dynamics in t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2012-04, Vol.7 (4), p.e35319-e35319
Main Authors: Wesolowski, Amy, Eagle, Nathan, Noor, Abdisalan M, Snow, Robert W, Buckee, Caroline O
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
AIDS
Biology
Cell Phone - utilization
Cell phones
Cellular telephones
Childrens health
Clinical medicine
Computer Science
Demography
Earth Sciences
Educational Status
Engineering
Epidemiology
Health care
HIV
Households
Human behavior
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Kenya
Logistic Models
Low income groups
Malaria
Management of crises
Medicine
Models, Biological
Ownership
Penetration
Plasmodium falciparum
Population density
Populations
Public health
Risk taking
Rural areas
Rural communities
Science Policy
Sex Factors
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Socioeconomic Factors
Studies
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Summary:The rapid adoption of mobile phone technologies in Africa is offering exciting opportunities for engaging with high-risk populations through mHealth programs, and the vast volumes of behavioral data being generated as people use their phones provide valuable data about human behavioral dynamics in these regions. Taking advantage of these opportunities requires an understanding of the penetration of mobile phones and phone usage patterns across the continent, but very little is known about the social and geographical heterogeneities in mobile phone ownership among African populations. Here, we analyze a survey of mobile phone ownership and usage across Kenya in 2009 and show that distinct regional, gender-related, and socioeconomic variations exist, with particularly low ownership among rural communities and poor people. We also examine patterns of phone sharing and highlight the contrasting relationships between ownership and sharing in different parts of the country. This heterogeneous penetration of mobile phones has important implications for the use of mobile technologies as a source of population data and as a public health tool in sub-Saharan Africa.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0035319