India

Working with our measurement, learning and evaluation partners and using multidisciplinary research methods, our findings on what works, why and how aimed to close the gap in implementation research on how to get life-saving interventions to families at scale.

In India, our research focussed on:

Supporting local decision-making 

The Data-Informed Platform for Health (DIPH) aims to strengthen health systems by supporting the use of local data for decision-making, priority-setting and planning at the district health administration level. The DIPH brings together key district-level data on inputs and processes and so facilitates the appraisal of maternal and newborn health services and programmes.

An initial  prototype phase was implemented in two districts of West Bengal, India: North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas.  Experience and lessons from this prototype now forms the basis for ongoing work on the DIPH in Ethiopia.

Fostering innovation sustainability

IDEAS carried out qualitative studies to assess what happens in the long term to donor-funded maternal and newborn health innovations that are scaled-up – and how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other donors can take steps to foster sustainability.

This work generated important new knowledge on sustaining health programmes in low-income settings, building on previous IDEAS studies of scale-up and the work of other academics supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It responded to the foundation’s commitment to seeing health investments scaled-up in terms of both geography and longer-term legacies.