An Ongoing Project

Non-Communicable Disease Mobile Phone Survey

Funding Agency

CDC Foundation

Partners/Collaborators

Department of Health - Epidemiology Bureau

Kind of Service

Fund Management

Project Description

Prevalence of common NCDs and their associated risk factors in the Philippines and the feasibility, validity and reliability of using mobile phone surveys to produce population level estimates

Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide. According to the World Health Organization country profiles in 2014, NCDs contribute to 34% of all deaths in the Philippines.

Efficient monitoring and surveillance are cornerstones to track the progress of NCD burden, related risk factors, and policy interventions. The systematic monitoring of risk factors to generate accurate and timely data is essential for Philippines’ ability to prioritize crucial resources and make sound policy decisions to address the growing NCD burden. With increasing access and use of mobile phones globally, opportunities exist to explore the feasibility of using mobile phone technology as an interim method to collect data and supplement household surveys.

In the Philippines, the goal of the NCD Mobile Phone Survey is to provide nationally representative estimates of indicators that can provide information on NCDs to help make programmatic recommendations to improve and enhance NCD prevention and response in Philippines.  The results may be used to supplement results of key behavior risk factors assessed in the WHO Stepwise survey or other national surveillance systems.

The NCD Mobile Phone Survey included 18 core questions on the following topics:

  • Demographics
  • Tobacco Use
  • Alcohol Use
  • Diet (Fruit, Vegetable, and Salt Consumption)
  • Diabetes
  • Hypertension

The implementation process consisted of five stages: engagement, planning and pre-test, full-scale data collection, data management and analysis, and data release and use.

Since 2018, the survey has been implemented in the Philippines in 2 phases. Phase 1 (2018) covered 3,679 individuals while Phase 2 (2020-2021) 3,087 individuals. These respondents were Globe, Smart, and Sun mobile phone networks subscribers and participated in the survey via short message service (SMS) and mobile web modes.

In July 2021, the CDC Foundation has extended the contract of FETPAFI until December 2021 to continue the work and open the opportunity for future surveys within the Department of Health.

The COVID-19 mobile phone survey was launched in August 2021.