You and I might use text messaging to remind our roommate to
pick up toilet paper on the way home from work, but around sub-
Saharan Africa, mobile phones are taking on a new role as tools
against the AIDS pandemic that is ravaging the continent. In
recent years, Africa’s internet infrastructure hasn’t kept pace
with the continent’s booming growth in cell phone access. Some
estimates in South Africa suggest that 74 percent of youth use
mobile phones on a regular basis, whereas only 6 percent access
the internet to a similar degree. This level of coverage has
prompted AIDS workers to adopt mobile phones as a tool to both
prevent and treat the virus. One possibility for using mobile
phones against AIDS is helping people living with the virus to
stick to strict treatment regimes and to access medical advice
without traveling to a clinic. This is especially relevant in a
region with large rural populations and limited health
infrastructure. A group at University of Nairobi clinics has
been using a cell phone-based