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Solicited diaries in audio, written and online forms are increasingly used in qualitative data collection. However, most studies using this approach are set in high-income, high-literacy country settings. This paper discusses the opportunities and challenges of this approach in a low-income, low-resource, low-literacy setting. We used solicited audio-recorded diaries to explore the financial lives of low-income women in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic. We enrolled 24 women to submit diary entries every day for seven days. We found that the audio-recorded diaries worked well with low-income women in Kenya, which has high penetration of cell phone ownership. The diaries provided textured, detailed insights into participants' day-to-day challenges, fluctuations, and coping strategies while relying less on recall. Nevertheless, the approach required two pilots to perfect, which may be challenging when research resources and time are limited. This study provides timely evidence on the use of audio-recorded solicited diaries in low-income settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial technology tools have been utilised to create readily available mobile loan platforms for urban-based, daily-wage earners in Kenya. From a financial lending perspective, this development signals greater inclusion and equality in formal bank financing systems. In this paper, however, we examine mobile loans and their repayment from the perspective of women who sell sex in Nairobi, drawing upon the qualitative findings of two community-based studies conducted in close collaboration with sex worker-led organisations serving the sexual health needs of their peers. Our findings suggest that mobile loans may undermine the financial security strategies and economic independence of sex workers, leaving these women in more precarious economic circumstances, which have been shown in other instances to have effects on sexual risk taking and vulnerability to HIV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile health (mHealth) programs offer opportunities to improve the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of adolescents by providing information. This paper reports the findings of a study carried out in Homabay County, Kenya, to assess stakeholders' perspectives on access to and use of mobile phones by adolescents for SRH education. We aimed to establish whether mobile phones could facilitate access to SRH information by adolescents and the barriers to be addressed. This was a qualitative exploratory study involving adolescents, parents, teachers, health care workers, and community health volunteers. Data were collected through focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs), and were analyzed through thematic and content analysis. Respondents lauded mHealth as an effective and efficient approach to adolescent SRH education with a potential to promote the learning of useful SRH information to influence their behavior formation. Respondents pointed out bottlenecks such as the limited ownership of and inequitable access to phones among adolescents, logistical barriers such as lack of electricity, internet connectivity, and the impact of phones on school performance, which must be addressed. The usefulness of mHealth in adolescent SRH education can be enhanced through inclusive program formulation and co-creation, implemented through safe spaces where adolescents would access information in groups, and supported by trained counselors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mother-to-child transmission of HIV remains a significant concern in Africa despite earlier progress. Early infant diagnosis (EID) of HIV is crucial to reduce mortality among infected infants through early treatment initiation. However, a large proportion of HIV-exposed infants are still not tested in Kenya. Our objective was to investigate whether weekly interactive text-messages improved prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV care outcomes including EID HIV testing. This multicentre, parallel-group, randomised, open-label trial included six antenatal care clinics across western Kenya. Pregnant women living with HIV, aged 18 years or older, with mobile phone access, were randomised in a 1:1 ratio to weekly text messages that continued until 24 months postpartum, asking "How are you?" ("Mambo?") to which they were asked to respond within 48 h, or a control group. Healthcare workers contacted participants reporting problems and non-responders by phone. Participants in both groups received routine PMTCT care. The prespecified secondary outcome reported in this paper is EID HIV testing by eight weeks of age (blinded outcome assessment). Final 24-months trial results will be published separately. We estimated risk ratios using Poisson regression with robust standard errors. Between June 2015–July 2016, we screened 735 pregnant women, of whom 600 were enrolled: 299 were allocated to the intervention and 301 to the control group. By eight weeks of age, the uptake of EID HIV testing out of recorded live births was 85.5% in the intervention and 84.7% in the control group (71.2% vs. 71.8% of participants randomised, including miscarriages, stillbirths, etc.). The intention-to-treat risk ratio was 0.99; 95% CI: 0.90–1.10; p = 0.89. The proportion of infants diagnosed with HIV was 0.8% in the intervention and 1.2% in the control group. No adverse events were reported. We found no evidence to support that the WelTel intervention improved EID HIV testing. A higher uptake of EID testing than expected in both groups may be a result of lower barriers to EID testing and improved PMTCT care in western Kenya, including the broader standard use of mobile phone communication between healthcare workers and patients. (ISRCTN No. 98818734. Funded by the European-Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership and others). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing countries have generally been overlooked in downstream carbon trading-based policy research. This can be attributed to the greater responsibility of developed economies for climate change, and the greater socio-demographic, political and technological challenges faced by their less-developed counterparts. This paper attempts to address this gap by examining the practicality of implementing Personal Carbon Trading (PCT) for personal road transport in Kenya. PCT is investigated with a focus on political considerations, potential system operation and the distributional impact of quota allocation to motorists. Three quota allocation methods are modelled using data from a survey of 500 motor vehicle owners in Nairobi and Mombasa counties. Equal per-capita, equal per-vehicle and needs-based allocation methods are modelled and assessed to determine the distributional impact on various groups of interest. Emissions were found to be highly correlated to vehicle engine size and the number of dependents per vehicle, but not to area of residence or income levels. None of the three allocation methods disproportionately imposed burdens on vulnerable groups, and all exhibited progressive tendencies. The proposed system is intended to add new insight into the possibility of PCT becoming a globally inclusive policy option. Key Policy Insights Despite PCT being a bold policy proposal even for developed countries, less developed counterparts can meet the political, institutional and technological requirements to implement it. The wealth of functionality available through SIM card features on cheap and abundant mobile phones may unlock a simple and cost-effective, globally-applicable PCT system. Public resistance to fuel price increases stems from the lower income demographic which is, conversely, rewarded with surpluses under PCT. Equal-per capita allocation remains the most progressive method. Needs-based allocation is highly progressive and may be worth considering when more stringent targets are deemed necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arid and semi-arid rangelands support a significant portion of the world's human population, as well as its biodiversity. These landscapes are threatened by degradation, through loss of vegetation, increasing spread of invasive or undesirable species, or both. Efforts to halt or reverse degradation exist, but lack of monitoring and reporting of restoration outcomes hampers efforts to replicate and upscale effective practices to other areas. This paper demonstrates how monitoring can inform future efforts through retrospective analysis of restoration projects on Acacia reficiens invaded rangelands in northern Kenya. A. reficiens has encroached into productive rangeland undermining both livestock production and endangered wildlife species conservation. Using a mobile phone application, LandPKS, we assessed 22 plots across 13 restoration sites in Westgate and Kalama conservancies in Northern Kenya that had been cleared of A. reficiens and reseeded with Cenchrus ciliaris. We found that these restoration treatments led to increases of more than 25% in overall ground cover, 34% in perennial grass cover, and 60% in standing herbaceous biomass. We therefore suggest that manual clearing of A. reficiens , when carried out in the late dry season and combined with both reseeding and prudent pre- and post-treatment seed and soil conservation practices, has the potential to provide an efficient and cost-effective solution to help reverse habitat losses. Our use of mobile phone applications allowed rapid assessment of restoration outcomes, and the resulting data are already being used to help design restoration projects on rangelands in northern Kenya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kenyan ICT ecosystem has attracted vast global media and policy attention because of notable mobile phone adoption in the country. However, empirical research of how Kenyans use and appropriate new media and ICTs in the diverse contexts within the country remains limited. In order to contribute to the emerging literature on Sub-Saharan Africa ICT ecosystems as well as the Mobility discussions within Mobiles for Development M4D and Information and Communication Technologies for Development ICT4D, this paper discusses an empirical case of how the youth of Kibera use and appropriate the mobile phone and the mobile Internet. The purpose of this critical realist ethnographic research article is to explicate the events in the historical development of the Kenyan ICT ecosystem as well as the components of social and physical structure in Kibera slum along with the relationships between them. This paper argues that the mobile phone eases communication and strengthens existent social ties for the youth of Kibera. However, it cannot bypass the hierarchical nature of Kenya where “class and place of residence are distinctive social markers in the process of social networking” [Wallis, C. (2011). Mobile phones without guarantees: The promises of technology and the contingencies of culture.New Media & Society,13(3), 471–485. Wallis, C. (2013).Technomobility in China: Young migrant women and mobile phones. New York, NY: New York University Press]. Therefore, the young Kiberans predominantly use and appropriate the mobile phone to network with those in the same lower income strata. This is because they are widely perceived in Kenyan society as the “other and what does not belong” because they are slum residents [Hall, S. (2013). The spectacle of the other. In S. Hall, J. Evans, & S. Nixon (Eds.),Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices(2nd ed., pp. 223–283). Sage. p. 257]. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Growth in mobile phone penetration has created new opportunities to reach and improve care to underserved, at-risk populations including those with tuberculosis (TB) or HIV/AIDS. Purpose: This paper summarizes a proof-of-concept pilot designed to provide remote Mobile Direct Observation of Treatment (MDOT) for TB patients. The MDOT model combines Clinic with Community DOT through the use of mobile phone video capture and transmission, alleviating the travel burden for patients and health professionals. Methods: Three healthcare professionals along with 13 patients and their treatment supporters were recruited from the Mbagathi District Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Treatment supporters were asked to take daily videos of the patient swallowing their medications. Patients submitted the videos for review by the health professionals and were asked to view motivational and educational TB text (SMS) and video health messages. Surveys were conducted at intake, 15 days, and 30 days. Data were collected in 2008 and analyzed in 2009. Results: All three health professionals and 11 patients completed the trial. All agreed that MDOT was a viable option, and eight patients preferred MDOT to clinic DOT or DOT through visiting Community Health Workers. Conclusions: MDOT is technically feasible. Both patients and health professionals appear empowered by the ability to communicate with each other and appear receptive to remote MDOT and health messaging over mobile. Further research should be conducted to evaluate whether MDOT (1) improves medication adherence, (2) is cost effective, and (3) can be used to improve treatment compliance for other diseases such as AIDS. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]