Comprehensive review of the evidence regarding the effectiveness of community-based primary health care in improving maternal, neonatal and child health: 7. shared characteristics of projects with evidence of long-term mortality impact.

Background: There is limited evidence about the long-term effectiveness of integrated community-based primary health care (CBPHC) in improving maternal, neonatal and child health. However, the interventions implemented and the approaches used by projects with such evidence can provide guidance for ending preventable child and maternal deaths by the year 2030.

Methods: A database of 700 assessments of the effectiveness of CBPHC in improving maternal, neonatal and child health has been assembled, as described elsewhere in this series.

Comprehensive review of the evidence regarding the effectiveness of community-based primary health care in improving maternal, neonatal and child health: 6. strategies used by effective projects.

Background: As part of our review of the evidence of the effectiveness of community-based primary health care (CBPHC) in improving maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH), we summarize here the common delivery strategies of projects, programs and field research studies (collectively referred to as projects) that have demonstrated effectiveness in improving child mortality. Other articles in this series address specifically the effects of CBPHC on improving MNCH, while this paper explores the specific strategies used.

Methods: We screened 12 166 published reports in PubMed of community-based approaches to improving maternal, neonatal and child health in high-mortality, resource-constrained settings from 1950-2015.

Comprehensive review of the evidence regarding the effectiveness of community-based primary health care in improving maternal, neonatal and child health: 5. equity effects for neonates and children.

Background: The degree to which investments in health programs improve the health of the most disadvantaged segments of the population-where utilization of health services and health status is often the worst-is a growing concern throughout the world. Therefore, questions about the degree to which community-based primary health care (CBPHC) can or actually does improve utilization of health services and the health status of the most disadvantaged children in a population is an important one.

Methods: Using a database containing information about the assessment of 548 interventions, projects or programs (referred to collectively as projects) that used CBPHC to improve child health, we extracted evidence related to equity from a sub-set of 42 projects, identified through a multi-step process, that included an equity analysis.

Comprehensive review of the evidence regarding the effectiveness of community-based primary health care in improving maternal, neonatal and child health: 4. child health findings.

Background: This paper assesses the effectiveness of community-based primary health care (CBPHC) in improving child health beyond the neonatal period. Although there has been an accelerated decline in global under-5 mortality since 2000, mortality rates remain high in much of sub-Saharan Africa and in some south Asian countries where under-5 mortality is also decreasing more slowly. Essential interventions for child health at the community level have been identified.

Comprehensive review of the evidence regarding the effectiveness of community-based primary health care in improving maternal, neonatal and child health: 3. neonatal health findings.

Background: As the number of deaths among children younger than 5 years of age continues to decline globally through programs to address the health of older infants, neonatal mortality is becoming an increasingly large proportion of under-5 deaths. Lack of access to safe delivery care, emergency obstetric care and postnatal care continue to be challenges for reducing neonatal mortality. This article reviews the available evidence regarding the effectiveness of community-based primary health care (CBPHC) and common components of programs aiming to improve health during the first 28 days of life.

Comprehensive review of the evidence regarding the effectiveness of community-based primary health care in improving maternal, neonatal and child health: 2. maternal health findings.

Background: We summarize the findings of assessments of projects, programs, and research studies (collectively referred to as projects) included in a larger review of the effectiveness of community-based primary health care (CBPHC) in improving maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH). Findings on neonatal and child health are reported elsewhere in this series.

Methods: We searched PUBMED and other databases through December 2015, and included assessments that underwent data extraction.

Comprehensive review of the evidence regarding the effectiveness of community-based primary health care in improving maternal, neonatal and child health: 1. rationale, methods and database description.

Background: Community-based primary health care (CBPHC) is an approach used by health programs to extend preventive and curative health services beyond health facilities into communities and even down to households. Evidence of the effectiveness of CBPHC in improving maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) has been summarized by others, but our review gives particular attention to not only the effectiveness of specific interventions but also their delivery strategies at the community level along with their equity effects. This is the first article in a series that summarizes and analyzes the assessments of programs, projects, and research studies (referred to collectively as projects) that used CBPHC to improve MNCH in low- and middle-income countries.