September 12, 2025

Dr. Anjuli Wagner and Dr. John Kinuthia receive new award to understand how mobile health technology supports PrEP adherence

Congratulations to Drs. Anjuli Wagner (Associate Professor, UW Global Health) and John Kinuthia (Affiliate Associate Professor, UW Global Health; Obstetrician Gynecologist, Kenyatta National Hospital) for receiving a National Institutes of Health award to fund “Mechanisms of Action for mobile SMS PrEP adherence intervention (mWACH PrEP Mechanisms)” that aims to understand how digital health technologies work to support women to adhere to PrEP, a daily oral pill to prevent HIV. Effectiveness of the pill requires it to be taken daily, yet more than half of women discontinue within the first month.

The new study builds upon the recently completed mWACH PrEP trial (Dr. Kinuthia served as a multiple principal investigator) that evaluated the effects of a two-way mobile SMS communication tool on PrEP adherence among Kenyan women during the pregnancy and postpartum periods, when the risk of acquiring HIV is high. The SMS platform – Mobile WACh – allowed for both automated sending of tailored health education messages and two-way communication with a remote nurse in real-time.

Digital health technologies, such as Mobile WACh, provide scalable and potentially cost-effective solutions to improve health, but the specific steps and processes explaining how they work to achieve their intended outcomes are not clearly understood. Understanding how digital health tools work to influence PrEP adherence can support researchers to make interventions more effective in influencing behavior change, ultimately overcoming challenges and better supporting women sustain PrEP use for HIV prevention during key seasons of risk.

We look forward to the results upon the study’s completion in summer 2027.