When it comes to taking their medicines on time, the Chinese are being encouraged with free mobile phone credits, meaning that when it comes to a mobile phone trade in, they’ll be wanting to keep up with the latest models.

A new strain of drug resistance tuberculosis (TB) is getting a grip in China and sufferers are being offered free mobile credits if they text their health centre with a unique code proving they have taken their medicine.

It is estimated that there are over nine million new TB cases every year and that some 5% are drug resistant. And with these cases, a cocktail of drugs are needed to be taken at exact times in order to fight the disease. This amounts to around 20 tablets to be taken every day for some six months. And what worries doctors is not so much that an individual might not take his drugs, but that the strain carried by that individual, if not cured, could be passed on again to someone else and so perpetuate a particular strain.

The mobile texting incentives was an idea originally conceived at the Massachusetts Institute of technology in the U.S. And it’s not just China that is under threat from medication-resistant TB. The World Health Organisation recently held a conference for 27 nations which were under threat, warning that if concerted action was not taken, then the consequences for the global spread of TB could be dramatic.

Patients in China have to take their own urine sample using test strips which, if they have been taking their medication properly, reveals a code which they then text to their health centre. If they have taken the drugs correctly, then they will receive their free credits.

And in rural China, where mobile phones are an everyday part of life, the free credits are seen as a major incentive. The scheme is partly funded by a £23 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which focuses on using technology to combat disease. And the Chinese themselves are planning to dramatically improve their health service with a £90 billion spending plan.

So, what with free mobile credits and an incentive to combat disease, it’s a fair bet that a major mobile phone trade in scheme will follow soon.