Using the Lives Saved Tool to inform global nutrition advocacy.

Background: The global nutrition community has been interested in investigating investment strategies that could be used to promote an increased focus and investment in nutrition programming in low- and middle-income countries.

Methods: The Lives Saved Tool (LiST) was used to evaluate lives saved and the costs of nutrition interventions in nine high-burden countries. In this case study, we detail the analyses that were conducted with LiST and how the results were packaged to develop Nourish the Future - a five-year proposal for the US government to scale up lifesaving malnutrition interventions.

Challenges in reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in Niger: an in-depth case study.

Introduction: Recent modelled estimates suggest that Niger made progress in maternal mortality since 2000. However, neonatal mortality has not declined since 2012 and maternal mortality estimates were based on limited data. We researched the drivers of progress and challenges.

Effective multi-sectoral approach for rapid reduction in maternal and neonatal mortality: the exceptional case of Bangladesh.

Background: Bangladesh experienced impressive reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality over the past several decades with annual rates of decline surpassing 4% since 2000. We comprehensively assessed health system and non-health factors that drove Bangladesh's success in mortality reduction.

Methods: We operationalised a comprehensive conceptual framework and analysed available household surveys for trends and inequalities in mortality, intervention coverage and quality of care.

The role of modeling in evaluation of maternal and child health programs: using the lives saved tool to help answer core evaluation questions.

This paper explains how The Lives Saved Tool (LiST), a computer-based model that estimates the impact of scaling up interventions on stillbirths, maternal, neonatal and child health, can contribute to evaluations of programs being delivered at scale to improve maternal and child health. LiST can be used to estimate the impact of a program in advance, allowing planners to refine, streamline and set appropriate program targets. LiST can also be used to estimate the impact of a program, which is particularly useful given the high costs of measuring changes in population health.

Estimating the health impact of vaccination against ten pathogens in 98 low-income and middle-income countries from 2000 to 2030: a modelling study.

Background: The past two decades have seen expansion of childhood vaccination programmes in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We quantify the health impact of these programmes by estimating the deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) averted by vaccination against ten pathogens in 98 LMICs between 2000 and 2030.

Methods: 16 independent research groups provided model-based disease burden estimates under a range of vaccination coverage scenarios for ten pathogens: hepatitis B virus, Haemophilus influenzae type B, human papillomavirus, Japanese encephalitis, measles, Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A, Streptococcus pneumoniae, rotavirus, rubella, and yellow fever.

Early estimates of the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal and child mortality in low-income and middle-income countries: a modelling study.

Background: While the COVID-19 pandemic will increase mortality due to the virus, it is also likely to increase mortality indirectly. In this study, we estimate the additional maternal and under-5 child deaths resulting from the potential disruption of health systems and decreased access to food.

Methods: We modelled three scenarios in which the coverage of essential maternal and child health interventions is reduced by 9·8-51·9% and the prevalence of wasting is increased by 10-50%.

Drivers of the progress achieved by Peru in reducing childhood diarrhoea mortality: a country case study.

Background: Childhood diarrhoea mortality has declined substantially in Peru in recent decades. We documented trends in childhood diarrhoea mortality from 1980 to 2015, along with trends in coverage of diarrhoea-related interventions and risk factors, to identify the main drivers of mortality reduction.

Methods: We conducted desk reviews on social determinants, policies and programmes, and diarrhoea-related interventions implemented during the study period.

Impact of vaccination delay on deaths averted by pneumococcal conjugate vaccine: Modeled effects in 8 country scenarios.

Delay in vaccination from schedule has been frequently documented and varies by vaccine, dose, and setting. Vaccination delay may result in the failure to prevent deaths that would have been averted by on-schedule vaccination. We constructed a model to assess the impact of delay in vaccination with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) on under-five mortality.

Explaining progress towards Millennium Development Goal 4 for child survival in Tanzania.

Background: During the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) era (1990-2015) the government in Mainland Tanzania and partners launched numerous initiatives to advance child survival including the comprehensive One Plan for Maternal Newborn and Child Health in 2008-2015 and a "sharpened" One Plan strategy in early 2014. Moving into the Sustainable Development Goal era, the government needs to learn from successes and challenges of striving towards MDG 4.

Methods: We expand previous work by presenting data for the full MDG period and sub-national results.

Using the missed opportunity tool as an application of the Lives Saved Tool (LiST) for intervention prioritization.

Background: The Missed Opportunity tool was developed as an application in the Lives Saved Tool (LiST) to allow users to quickly compare the relative impact of interventions. Global Financing Facility (GFF) investment cases have been identified as a potential application of the Missed Opportunity analyses in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania, to use 'lives saved' as a normative factor to set priorities.

Methods: The Missed Opportunity analysis draws on data and methods in LiST to project maternal, stillbirth, and child deaths averted based on changes in interventions' coverage.

Estimated economic impact of vaccinations in 73 low- and middle-income countries, 2001-2020.

Objective: To estimate the economic impact likely to be achieved by efforts to vaccinate against 10 vaccine-preventable diseases between 2001 and 2020 in 73 low- and middle-income countries largely supported by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Methods: We used health impact models to estimate the economic impact of achieving forecasted coverages for vaccination against type b, hepatitis B, human papillomavirus, Japanese encephalitis, measles, serogroup A, rotavirus, rubella, and yellow fever. In comparison with no vaccination, we modelled the costs - expressed in 2010 United States dollars (US$) - of averted treatment, transportation costs, productivity losses of caregivers and productivity losses due to disability and death.

Remaining missed opportunities of child survival in Peru: modelling mortality impact of universal and equitable coverage of proven interventions.

Background: Peru has made great improvements in reducing stunting and child mortality in the past decade, and has reached the Millennium Development Goals 1 and 4. The remaining challenges or missed opportunities for child survival needs to be identified and quantified, in order to guide the next steps to further improve child survival in Peru.

Methods: We used the Lives Saved Tool (LiST) to project the mortality impact of proven interventions reaching every women and child in need, and the mortality impact of eliminating inequalities in coverage distribution between wealth quintiles and urban-rural residence.

Child health and nutrition in Peru within an antipoverty political agenda: a Countdown to 2015 country case study.

Background: Peru is an upper-middle-income country with wide social and regional disparities. In recent years, sustained multisectoral antipoverty programmes involving governments, political parties, and civil society have included explicit health and nutrition goals and spending increased sharply. We did a country case study with the aim of documenting Peru's progress in reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health from 2000-13, and explored the potential determinants.

Importance of clothing removal in scalds.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that prompt removal of clothing after scalds lessens the severity of injury.

Methods: This experimental study and case series was carried out in the Burn Centre of a tertiary hospital in Hong Kong. An experimental burn model using Allevyn (Smith & Nephew Medical Limited, Hull, England) as a skin substitute was designed to test the effect of delayed clothing removal on skin temperature using hot water and congee.

Independent Evaluation of the Rapid Scale-Up Program to Reduce Under-Five Mortality in Burkina Faso.

We conducted a prospective evaluation of the "Rapid Scale-Up" (RSU) program in Burkina Faso, focusing on the integrated community case management (iCCM) component of the program. We used a quasi-experimental design in which nine RSU districts were compared with seven districts without the program. The evaluation included documentation of program implementation, assessments of implementation and quality of care, baseline and endline coverage surveys, and estimation of mortality changes using the Lives Saved Tool.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of care groups in expanding population coverage of Key child survival interventions and reducing under-5 mortality: a comparative analysis using the lives saved tool (LiST).

Background: Globally, less than half of Countdown Countries will achieve the Millennium Development Goal of reducing the under-5 mortality rate (U5MR) by two-thirds by 2015. There is growing interest in community-based delivery mechanisms to help accelerate progress. One promising approach is the use of a form of participatory mothers' groups, called Care Groups, for expanding coverage of key child survival interventions, an essential feature for achieving mortality impact.

Modeling potential reduction of child mortality after national scale-up of community-based treatment of childhood illnesses in Ethiopia.

Background: Since 2010, 28,000 female health extension workers (IEWs) received training and support to provide integrated community based case management (iCCM) of childhood pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, and se- vere malnutrition in Ethiopia.

Objective: We conducted a modeling exercise using two scenarios to project the potential reduction of the under five mortality, riate due io the iCCM program in the four agrarian regions of Ethiopia. METHODS.

Overview of the Lives Saved Tool (LiST).

This paper provides an overview of the historical development and current status of the Lives Saved Tool (LiST). The paper provides a general explanation of the modeling approach used in the model with links to web sites and other articles with more details. It also details the development process in developing both the model structure as well as the assumptions used in the model.

The estimated mortality impact of vaccinations forecast to be administered during 2011-2020 in 73 countries supported by the GAVI Alliance.

Introduction: From August to December 2011, a multidisciplinary group with expertise in mathematical modeling was constituted by the GAVI Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to estimate the impact of vaccination in 73 countries supported by the GAVI Alliance.

Methods: The number of deaths averted in persons projected to be vaccinated during 2011-2020 was estimated for ten antigens: hepatitis B, yellow fever, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), Streptococcus pneumoniae, rotavirus, Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A, Japanese encephalitis, human papillomavirus, measles, and rubella. Impact was calculated as the difference in the number of deaths expected over the lifetime of vaccinated cohorts compared to the number of deaths expected in those cohorts with no vaccination.

Osteonecrosis of the jaw after implant surgery in patients treated with bisphosphonates--a presentation of six consecutive cases.

Background: Osteonecrosis of the jaws in patients treated with bisphosphonates is mostly associated with intravenous bisphosphonates while the incidence associated with oral bisphosphonates is not significant.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a series of cases of jaw osteonecrosis that may be associated with dental implant placement in patients who had taken nitrogen containing bisphosphonates via oral and/or intravenous route.

Patients: Six female patients were treated for osteonecrosis of the jaw after implant placement.

Estimated economic benefits during the 'decade of vaccines' include treatment savings, gains in labor productivity.

In 2010 the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a $10 billion commitment over the next ten years to increase access to childhood vaccines in the world's poorest countries. The effort was labeled the "Decade of Vaccines." This study estimates both the short- and long-term economic benefits from the introduction and increased use of six vaccines in seventy-two of the world's poorest countries from 2011 to 2020.