查看文章

Despite substantial public and private costs of non-adherence to infectious disease treatments, patients often do not finish their medication. We explore adherence to medication for malaria, a major cause of morbidity and health system costs in Africa. We conducted a randomized trial in Uganda testing specialized packaging and messaging, designed to increase antimalarial adherence. We find that stickers with short, targeted messages on the packaging increase adherence by 9% and reduce untaken pills by 29%. However, the currently used method of boosting adherence through costly, specialized packaging with pictorial instructions had no significant impacts relative to the standard control package. We develop a theoretical framework of the adherence decision, highlighting the role of symptoms, beliefs about being cured, and beliefs about drug effectiveness to help interpret our results. Patients whose …