Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Mass Media Interventions for Child Survival in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Figures & data

Figure 1 PRISMA flow diagram.

Table 1. Summary of systematic review search results

Child survival health topic	Full-text articles assessed for eligibility	Full-text articles excluded with reasons	Studies included in synthesis	Campaigns
Diarrheal disease	24	13	11	15
Immunization	21	15	6	8
Malaria	27	25	2	2
Nutrition	30	16	14	14
PMTCT	6	5	1	1
Respiratory disease	6	2	4	4
Reproductive health	112	44	68	67
Total	226	120	106	111
Note. Some articles describe more than one campaign, and some campaigns are described by more than one article. PMTCT = Preventing mother-to-child transmission.

Table 2. Summary of campaign region, decade, and communication channels

Health topic	n	East Asia and the Pacific	Europe and Central Asia	Latin America and Caribbean	Middle East and North Africa	South Asia	Sub-Saharan Africa	1960s	1970s	1980s	1990s	2000	2010	Television	Radio	Newspapers	Interpersonal communication
Diarrheal disease	15	2	0	2	1	2	8	0	0	10	2	3	0	5	12	1	13
Immunization	8	1	0	3	0	2	2	0	0	3	4	1	0	6	8	3	6
Malaria	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	1
Nutrition	14	4	1	6	1	0	2	0	1	4	4	4	1	8	11	4	10
PMTCT	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0
Respiratory disease	4	1	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	1	0	4	4	4	3
All child survival	44	8	1	13	2	5	15	0	1	17	13	11	2	24	37	12	33
		18%	2%	30%	5%	11%	34%	0%	2%	39%	30%	25%	5%	55%	84%	27%	75%
Reproductive health	67	8	1	15	8	11	24	4	10	11	28	13	1	37	60	19	25
		12%	1%	22%	12%	16%	36%	6%	15%	16%	42%	19%	1%	55%	90%	28%	37%
Note. PMTCT = preventing mother-to-child transmission.

Table 3. Summary of assessment of evaluation strength

Child survival health topic	Strength of evaluation
	Weak	Moderate	Stronger
Diarrheal disease	2	10	3
Immunization	1	3	4
Malaria	1	0	1
Nutrition	5	3	6
Preventing mother-to-child transmission	0	1	0
Respiratory disease	3	1	0
Reproductive health	21	14	32
Total	33	32	46

Table 4. Summary of evaluation design for the moderate and stronger campaign evaluations

Health topic (number of campaigns per topic)	n	Moderate evaluation	Stronger evaluation	Low exposure: 0–30%	Moderate exposure: 31–60%	High exposure: 61–100%	Probability sample	Sample size: 1,000+	Statistical controls	Advanced statistical methods	Effect of exposure	Change over time	Difference between treatment/control	Observed effect on intermediary outcomes	Observed effect on behavior	Observed effect on health outcome
Diarrheal disease	13	10	3	5	2	5	13	11	8	1	3	12	2	6	10	0
Immunization	7	3	4	3	2	2	7	6	6	2	2	6	0	2	5	0
Malaria	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	0	0	1	0
Nutrition	9	3	6	1	5	1	5	3	6	3	3	9	2	5	8	1
PMTCT	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
Respiratory diseases	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0
All child survival	32		14 44%	9 28%	10 31%	10 31%	26 81%	21 66%	22 69%	7 22%	9 28%	29 91%	5 16%	13 41%	26 81%	1 3%
Reproductive health	46	14 30%	32 70%	9 20%	16 35%	20 43%	41 89%	33 72%	36 78%	13 28%	31 67%	28 61%	9 20%	28 61%	41 89%	0 0%
Note. PMTCT = preventing mother-to-child transmission.