Therapy adherence with mobile phone

TAMA, Treatment Advice by Mobile Alerts, offers HIV/AIDS patients in India the possibility to receive reminders about their medication schedule, health tips, to interact and make appointments with their doctor/hospital.
During informal consultations in 2009 Janssen researchers entered into a discussion as to why, despite the availability of effective medication, HIV/AIDS patients in developing countries still all too often died from the effects of the disease. The search for a plausible answer resulted in the initiation of the UNITE Project. UNITE is a consortium between Janssen and several external partners including the Grameen Foundation, the Indian Institute of Technology, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education, and ten Aids clinics in India.

UNITE ordered the performance of detailed behavioral studies in order to gain a better insight into the lifestyle of HIV/AIDS patients in India. The studies demonstrated that these patients are stigmatized because of the taboo still associated with HIV/AIDS and that the huge distances between their homes and the clinics also present a serious problem.

The UNITE consortium has developed a technology platform TAMA based on these results, which facilitates access to appropriate care for HIV/AIDS patients via their cell phones. The TAMA platform complements the services already offered by hospitals and doctors. By making the TAMA services available anywhere at any time to HIV/AIDS patients improves therapy adherence and treatment results. A pilot study at six clinics in India will be followed by a randomized clinical study to verify the impact of TAMA on clinical results and therapy adherence.