Setting research priorities to reduce almost one million deaths from birth asphyxia by 2015

• Published in: PLoS medicine 2011-01, Vol.8 (1), p.e1000389-e1000389
• Main Authors: Lawn, Joy E, Bahl, Rajiv, Bergstrom, Staffan, Bhutta, Zulfiqar A, Darmstadt, Gary L, Ellis, Matthew, English, Mike, Kurinczuk, Jennifer J, Lee, Anne C C, Merialdi, Mario, Mohamed, Mohamed, Osrin, David, Pattinson, Robert, Paul, Vinod, Ramji, Siddarth, Saugstad, Ola D, Sibley, Lyn, Singhal, Nalini, Wall, Steven N, Woods, Dave, Wyatt, John, Chan, Kit Yee, Rudan, Igor
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asphyxia Neonatorum - economics; Asphyxia Neonatorum - mortality; Asphyxia Neonatorum - prevention & control; Asphyxia Neonatorum - therapy; Babies; Birthing Centers - supply & distribution; Children & youth; Community Networks - organization & administration; Community Networks - supply & distribution; Decision Making; Developing Countries; Evidence-Based Healthcare/Health Services Research and Economics; Expert Testimony; Female; Global Health; Goals; Guidelines and Guidance; Health Services Needs and Demand; Humans; Hypoxia; Infant mortality; Infant Mortality - trends; Infant, Newborn; Low income groups; Maternal Health Services - supply & distribution; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Non-Clinical Medicine/Health Policy; Non-Clinical Medicine/Research Methods; Nutrition; Nutrition research; Obstetrics/Labor and Delivery; Obstetrics/Management of High-Risk Pregnancies; Pregnancy; Research Support as Topic; Resuscitation; Stillbirth; Surveys and Questionnaires; Womens health; World Health Organization
• ISSN: 1549-1676; 1549-1277; 1549-1676
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000389

Abbreviations: AEA, average expert agreement; CAH, World Health Organization Child and Adolescent Health and Development Department; CHNRI, Child Health Nutrition Research Initiative; MDG, Millennium Development Goal; NE, neonatal encephalopathy; NIH, US National Institutes of Health; RPS, research priority score; World Health Organization, Summary Points * Intrapartum-related neonatal deaths (previously called "birth asphyxia") are the fifth most common cause of deaths among children under 5 years of age, accounting for an estimated 814,000 deaths each year, and also associated with significant morbidity, resulting in a burden of 42 million disability adjusted life years (DALYs). * This paper uses a systematic process developed by the Child Health Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) to define and rank research options to reduce mortality from intrapartum-related neonatal deaths by the year 2015, in order to advance Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 for child survival. * A list of 61 research questions was developed and scored by 21 technical experts. The top one-third of the ranked research investment options was dominated by delivery (implementation) research, whilst discovery (basic science) questions were not ranked highly, especially for expected reduction of mortality and inequity in the short time to 2015. * Among the top four research questions, two relate to generation of demand for facility care at birth with specific mechanisms (such as transport and communication schemes, or financial incentives and conditional cash transfers).