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Fostering innovation sustainability

In the Sustainable Development Goals era there is considerable interest in promoting the long-term sustainability of health programmes introduced by donors in order to achieve universal health coverage. Effective interventions commonly come to a halt when donor funding ends or only fragile, short term funding can be secured to sustain them at scale. This lack of sustainability undermines the value of externally-funded health programmes.

It is important to develop a better understanding of the conditions and approaches that enable the sustainable scale-up of maternal and newborn health innovations.

In Nigeria, India and Ethiopia we have followed over 57 innovations funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and are studying those taken to scale to assess their sustainability. This includes a Village Health Worker scheme and an Emergency Transport Scheme in Nigeria, a smart phone app for community health workers in India and an innovation to enable community health workers to administer antibiotics to sick newborns in Ethiopia.

 

Journal article
‘A seamless transition’: how to sustain a community health worker scheme

This paper, published in Health Policy and Planning, presents a qualitative study focussing on the Village Health Worker (VHW) Scheme’s...

Nigeria Fostering innovation sustainability Evidence for policy and practice Implementation projects Research findings

Published content

Journal article
‘A seamless transition’: how to sustain a community health worker scheme

This paper, published in Health Policy and Planning, presents a qualitative study focussing on the Village Health Worker (VHW) Scheme’s...

Nigeria Fostering innovation sustainability 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...

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
News
In memory of Deepthi Wickremasinghe

Deepthi was a Research Fellow, specialising in qualitative research, systematic literature reviews and information and knowledge...

Ethiopia General India Nigeria Fostering innovation sustainability
News
Learning from joint research: Maternal, newborn and child health in Ethiopia

These are just some of the results discussed during a joint MNCH learning conference held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the 7th of November....

Ethiopia Community-based newborn care Fostering innovation sustainability Improving coverage measurement Supporting local decision-making Tracking progress Understanding quality improvement Behaviour change Capacity strengthening Context Economics Evaluation methods Evidence for policy and practice Implementation projects Implementation strength
Past event
LSHTM – EPHI Maternal Newborn and Child Health Learning Conference

The objective of the conference is to synthesize the learning emerging from the joint research efforts in Maternal, Newborn and Child...

Ethiopia Community-based newborn care Fostering innovation sustainability Improving coverage measurement Supporting local decision-making Tracking progress Understanding quality improvement Capacity strengthening Context Evidence for policy and practice Research findings
Blog Post
A new appreciation for data: Impressions from the MNCH partnership in Gombe State

For the IDEAS team working in Gombe, the past few months have again been a busy period. The last annual household survey was scheduled for August,...

Nigeria Fostering innovation sustainability Supporting local decision-making Capacity strengthening Context Research findings
Journal article
Mapping complex interventions – lessons from developing and applying a characterisation framework in Nigeria, Ethiopia and India

This paper authored by Krystyna Makowiecka et al and published in BMJ Global Health al describes how government leadership to enhance maternal and...

Ethiopia General India Nigeria Fostering innovation sustainability Supporting local decision-making Context Evidence for policy and practice Implementation projects Research findings
Research brief
Recommendations from the Village Health Worker Scheme Sustainability Study

Much work has been done to ensure the sustainability of the scheme, yet there are still some areas of uncertainty, which it would be beneficial to...

Nigeria Fostering innovation sustainability Evidence for policy and practice Implementation projects Research findings Scale-up
Blog Post
“Their own project for their own people”: Community participation in the Village Health Worker Scheme in Gombe State, Nigeria

Cross-posted from the Community Health Worker Central hub. Over the last 10 years, there has been little change in the maternal mortality ratio in...

Nigeria Fostering innovation sustainability Context Implementation projects Research findings Scale-up
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