A special supplement of Acta Paediatrica, “Addressing implementation challenges for maternal, newborn and child health interventions,” presents results from nine research studies that tested and documented the delivery of proven maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) interventions in eight different countries: China, Egypt, India, Lebanon, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan and Syria. The research was supported by the WHO’s Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (MCA) with funding provided by the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR).
Diverse service delivery issues are highlighted within the different studies, including 1) addressing access barriers to reaching health services, 2) improving quality of healthcare services and 3) strengthening motivation and performance of community and facility-based health workers. Valuable insights were gained to aid implementation and scale-up.
The supplement assembles a range of methods and designs along the spectrum of implementation research, ranging from effectiveness studies with some considerations of implementation to those that assess the sustainability of economic costs of implementation and scale-up. The varied study designs and implementation approaches reflect the evolving nature of implementation research evident in public health practice
Policy makers and implementers were engaged in the different contexts to ensure the research was relevant and responded to the specific needs of the programme and health system. Embedding implementation research into core health system functions is increasingly seen as important for successful implementation.