IDEAS aims to improve the health and survival of mothers and babies through generating evidence to inform policy and practice.

Journal article

Has Ethiopia been successful in increasing health care utilisation for children?

Despite a range of programmes and initiatives introduced in Ethiopia since 2003 care-seeking for sick under-five children has remained low. The...

Journal article

Understanding what didn’t work: a mixed method process evaluation

The ‘Optimising the Health Extension Program’ was implemented between 2016 and 2018 in four regions of Ethiopia. It included community engagement, capacity building, and district ownership and accountability. The Dagu project at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is leading an evaluation of the...

Ethiopia Community-based newborn care Evaluation methods Evidence for policy and practice Implementation projects Research findings

Blog Post

First results from the Gombe State Maternal and Newborn Health Partnership

Together with implementation partners the Society for Family Health, the SAQIP project of PACT Nigeria and Evidence for Action Mamaye, IDEAS has worked to support the use of data for decision making through six-monthly data driven learning workshops and routine facility-based data quality workshops. Further, IDEAS has...

Nigeria Fostering innovation sustainability Improving coverage measurement Supporting local decision-making Tracking progress Understanding quality improvement Capacity strengthening Evaluation methods Evidence for policy and practice Implementation projects Intervention coverage Local data use Research findings Scale-up

Journal article

“Everything is from God but it is always better to get to the hospital on time”

Zelee Hill and her co-authors aimed to identify facilitators and barriers for women to deliver their babies in health facilities in Gombe State, North East Nigeria. The team conducted narrative and in-depth interviews with women who had already delivered in a health facility, as well as their family members and...

Nigeria Understanding quality improvement Behaviour change Context Evidence for policy and practice Research findings

Journal article

Measurement and accountability for maternal, newborn and child health: fit for 2030?

This commentary, published in BMJ Global Health and authored by participants of a 2020 meeting in Nairobi sees the greatest opportunity now for measurement in MNCH in making an intentional shift from global to local actions that strengthen measurement systems in the locations where they are needed. Greater country...

General Improving coverage measurement Evidence for policy and practice Intervention coverage