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Table 3 Top 20 (highest scoring) research priority questions to improve maternal and/or perinatal health outcomes between 2015 and 2025

From: Maternal and perinatal health research priorities beyond 2015: an international survey and prioritization exercise

Research question

NRPS

Theme

Evaluate the effectiveness of interventions (e.g. counselling or incentives, or home visits) to increase post-abortion contraception uptake and continuance, and reduce repeat abortion

100

Abortion

Evaluate the effectiveness and costs of strategies to improve the quality and utilization of maternity services (e.g. maternity waiting homes, improved communication via mobile phones, community awareness strategies) to improve early detection and management of antenatal and intrapartum complications

95

Health systems

Develop and evaluate strategies for locally appropriate transport, communication and referral systems for obstetric and newborn emergencies

94

Health systems

Evaluate the effectiveness and cost of strategies to prevent, detect and treat causes of anaemia in pregnancy (e.g. malaria, occult bleeding disorders, nutritional deficiencies)

93

Antenatal care

Evaluate the effectiveness and cost of training interventions for frontline healthcare workers (paramedics, doctors, CHWs, midwives, nurses) to diagnose, manage and refer women with obstetric haemorrhage

92

Obstetric haemorrhage

Evaluate the effectiveness and cost of a package of community level interventions for preterm babies (e.g. implementing and providing guidelines for kangaroo mother care, home visits by CHWs, infection prevention strategies)

92

Neonatal care

Evaluate the effectiveness of integrating abortion services into existing family planning services

91

Abortion

Evaluate the effectiveness and cost of training frontline healthcare workers, including nurses, midwives and community health workers, to detect and treat neonatal sepsis (or to provide pre-referral treatment only)

90

Neonatal care

Develop and evaluate community-based awareness programs to reduce unwanted pregnancies and encourage women to seek help early

89

Abortion

Evaluate the effectiveness and cost of training interventions for skilled birth attendants to gain and maintain competence in the management of obstructed labour, and assisted delivery techniques

88

Labour and delivery

Evaluate the effectiveness and cost of training skilled birth attendants in intrapartum fetal monitoring and neonatal resuscitation for reducing stillbirths and deaths/disability due to perinatal asphyxia

88

Neonatal care

Evaluate the effectiveness and cost of a package of interventions for the prevention, early detection and treatment of puerperal sepsis (e.g. sterile birth kits, access to antibiotics, automated thermometers)

88

Other (puerperal sepsis)

Evaluate the effectiveness and cost of a package of mobile service interventions delivered at community level, including mobile clinics and home-based care, on maternal and perinatal health outcomes

87

Health systems

Evaluate the effectiveness, safety and timing of the initiation of post-abortion contraception (hormonal and IUDs) with respect to abortion outcomes, contraceptive effectiveness, uptake, continuance, and repeat abortions

87

Abortion

Develop and evaluate the effectiveness and cost of strategies to improve access of women with obstetric haemorrhage to blood and blood replacement products in settings without transport capabilities

87

Obstetric haemorrhage

Develop and evaluate the effectiveness of strategies to increase access of women to misoprostol at community level where oxytocin is not available/feasible, by dispensing it antenatally as part of a birthing kit, or at the time of delivery via the attending CHW or nurse/midwife, to prevent and treat PPH

87

Obstetric haemorrhage

Develop and evaluate strategies to increase appropriate use of the partograph, including decision-making and action, to improve maternal and perinatal health outcomes

85

Labour and delivery

Evaluate the effectiveness and cost of strategies, including task-shifting, to increase access of women to high quality post-abortion care to improve early detection of complications

85

Abortion

Assess the effectiveness and cost of implementing a package of screening and treating syphilis and HIV in women of reproductive age to improve maternal and perinatal health outcomes.

85

Antenatal care

Develop and evaluate a health systems package for effective task shifting for the management of obstetric emergencies, including protocols, supervisory systems, and metrics

83

Health systems

  1. NRPS: Normalized research priority score. This was performed by subtracting the minimum research priority score from the index question score, and dividing by the NRPS range, i.e. (x - min)/(max - min).