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A team of economists from the University of Passau has demonstrated how Facebook ads can be used to identify people at risk of developing diabetes in Indonesia. Their research shows that warnings about the health consequences of the disease are more effective than other types of health information.
Facebook is an inexpensive and efficient tool to reach out to people at risk of developing diabetes. This has been shown by a study conducted by a team of economists from the University of Passau. The researchers used Facebook ads, targeted to users living in the two major Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Yogyakarta, to warn of the the dangers of the 'silent' disease. Within only three weeks, the ads had reached nearly 300,000 users, 5,300 of whom had clicked on the link and were redirected to a website with information about the disease and an online diabetes self-test.
"Based on the study results and some general underlying assumptions about professional screenings following the self-screening, we can say that such a campaign allows to identify a case of diabetes that would otherwise go undiagnosed for as little as 9 dollars," says Manuela Fritz, early career economist at the Chair of Development Economics of the University of Passau and the study's lead author. "The fact that so many people can be reached using such modest funds makes this medium particularly attractive for countries with only a limited budget for healthcare," says economist Professor Michael Grimm who acted as supervisor and co-author of the project.
The campaign: "Where there is sugar, there is diabetes"
The campaign called "Ada Gula, Ada Diabetes" ran from mid-March to the beginning of April 2022. To ensure that the design and wording appeals to the Indonesian audience, the researchers collaborated with Indonesian web designer Benedictus Praditya. The name of the campaign is a play on an Indonesian saying and roughly means: too much sugar can lead to diabetes. The researchers tested five different ads. Two of them warned about the consequences in a drastic and shocking manner, whereas the others drew attention to diabetes via other references like the increased incidence of the disease in specific regions, but also via references towards religion and the family. The most successful ads were those that specifically warned about the health consequences of diabetes. These ads were particularly effective for women.
In Indonesia, 75 percent of those affected by diabetes remain undiagnosed because the symptoms often do not appear until the later stages of the disease. The study revealed that Facebook ads are particularly suited to reach out precisely to this group of people. Based on the results of the diabetes self-test the researchers provided, people at risk were advised to visit a healthcare centre at their earliest convenience and demand a professional blood sugar test.
Study within the Scope of the EU Horizon 2020 SUNI-SEA Project
The study, which is available as a working paper, was conducted in the scope of the EU Horizon 2020 project "Scaling-up Non-communicable Disease Interventions in South-East Asia" – SUNI-SEA for short – under the supervision of the University Medical Center Groningen. The Chair of Development Economics is involved in this project as a collaborating partner. In addition to the researchers from the University of Passau, the study team included computer scientist Ingmar Weber, Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Saarland University, and Elad Yom-Tov from Microsoft Research in Herzliya and the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.
The purpose of the EU project SUNI-SEA is to evaluate existing prevention programmes against endemic diseases such as diabetes in Southeast Asia and study how effective measures can be enhanced and expanded. In Southeast Asia, diabetes has become a common lifestyle disease. In Indonesia, it is the third leading cause of death.
Funding notice: The SUNI-SEA project was awarded funding under grant agreement no. 825026 in the "Horizon 2020" programme of the European Union for Research and Innovation.
Professor Michael Grimm
Chair of Development Economics
Innstraße 29
94032 Passau
michael.grimm@uni-passau.de
Manuela Fritz
Chair of Development Economics
Innstraße 29
94032 Passau
Manuela.Fritz@uni-passau.de
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19E4lvLzpja3wAxnunrt8ARZpXgvvfSC4/view
Video on the study
https://www.digital.uni-passau.de/en/beitraege/2023/kampf-gegen-diabetes Report on this topic in the Digital Research Magazine
https://www.suni-sea.org/en/ Website of the EU project SUNI-SEA
Manuela Fritz with her co-author Michael Grimm, Professor for Development Economics.
University of Passau
University of Passau
A team of economists from the University of Passau has shown how Facebook ads can be used to identif ...
University of Passau
University of Passau
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