Critical maternal health knowledge gaps in low- and middle-income countries for the post-2015 era

Table 1 Content analysis of identified priorities for knowledge generation to improve maternal health in low- and middle-income countries^a

N = 26 respondents	Number of respondents who identified the topic as a priority
Persistent and critical maternal health knowledge gaps
Implementation research to strengthen health systems to deliver evidence-based interventions at scale and with quality	19
Improving quality of maternal healthcare	16
Improving the quality and availability of information about maternal mortality	7
Supporting women’s empowerment	7
Increasing the availability and uptake of contraception	6
Increasing access to safe abortion services	6
New treatments for the major causes of maternal death	6
Crucial maternal health issues that have not received adequate attention from donors and researchers
Health workforce (allocation and retention, task-shifting, training, and leadership and supervision; role of private and unrecognized providers)	15
Preventing and eliminating disrespect and abuse	9
Over-medicalization of birth	8
Demand generation	7
Measurement, prevention, and treatment of maternal morbidities	7
New situations and emerging challenges that affect maternal health
Increasing burden of non-communicable disease	13
Persistence of social and economic inequality	10
Urbanization	9
Translating knowledge about the developmental origins of health and disease into practice	7
Information and communication technologies to enhance maternal health	7

^aNumbers sum to more than 26 as respondents were not limited in the number of priority topics for knowledge generation that they could mention. There was significant overlap in the topics identified by respondents as “persistent knowledge gaps” and those considered “not to have received adequate attention from donors and researchers”. The decision to classify a specific topic as a “persistent knowledge gap” or an area that has “not received adequate attention” was made based on: a) the frequency with which a topic was mentioned in response to one or the other question and b) grouping of related topics

ISSN: 1742-4755