Evidence Acquisition and Evaluation for Evidence Summit on Population-Level Behavior Change to Enhance Child Survival and Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Abstract

Recognizing the need for evidence to inform public health officials and health care workers in the U.S. government and low- and middle-income country governments on efficient, effective behavior change policies, strategies, and programs for child health and development, the U.S. government convened the Evidence Summit on Enhancing Child Survival and Development in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries by Achieving Population-Level Behavior Change. This article summarizes the background and methods for the acquisition and evaluation of the evidence used to the achieve the goals of the summit that is reviewed in other articles in this special issue of the Journal of Health Communication. The process began by identifying focal questions intended to inform the U.S. and low- and middle-income governments about behavior change interventions that accelerate reductions in under-5 mortality and optimize healthy and protective child development to 5 years of age. Experts were selected representing the research and program communities, academia, relevant nongovernmental organizations, and government agencies and assembled into evidence review teams. This was followed by the systematic gathering of relevant peer-reviewed literature that would inform the focal questions. Members of the evidence review teams were invited to add relevant articles not identified in the initial literature review to complete the bibliographies. Details of the search processes and methods used for screening and quality reviews are described. The evidence review teams were asked to comply with a specific evaluation framework for recommendations on practice and policy on the basis of both expert opinion and the quality of the data reviewed.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the important role of Elizabeth Higgs, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose vision for USAID evidence summits was the inspiration for the methodology for this summit and whose earlier publications on summit methodology served as the model for this article (Higgs, Stammer, Roth, & Balster, 2013; Higgs, Zlidar, & Balster, 2012). The authors also acknowledge the overall leadership of Elizabeth Fox at USAID, whose vision and support through the conceptualization and implementation of the evidence summit was essential. The following people also played important roles in developing and implementing the methodology for this evidence summit: Mario Bravo, Mary Sanitato, and Patrick Sheehan at USAID; Vera Zlidar and Neda Dowlatshahi at Knowledge Management Services; and Rafael Obregón at UNICEF. Willo Pequegnat from the National Institutes of Health and Alison Breland from Virginia Commonwealth University provided helpful comments on earlier versions of this article.

Notes

This article not subject to U.S. copyright law.