Global Research Priorities for Social, Behavioural and Community Engagement Interventions for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

"Achieving global targets for MNCH requires increased investment in SBCE interventions that build capacities of individuals, families and communities as agents of their own health."

Social, behavioural, and community engagement (SBCE) interventions aim to strengthen the capabilities of individuals, families, and communities to contribute to improving their own health. Past efforts to synthesise research on SBCE interventions for maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) identified a need for clear global priorities to guide research in the period up to 2030. This paper presents the priorities that were identified through a consultative exercise managed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The exercise was conducted between June 2015 and August 2018. A total of 310 experts proposed 867 research priorities, which were consolidated into 444 priorities and scored by 280 experts. The top 10 research priorities by health area are presented in Tables 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the paper. In brief:

• Within the maternal health priorities, 8 of the top 10 priorities focused on research that improves the delivery of SBCE interventions and programmes that strengthen self-care, family care practices, and care-seeking behaviour through SBCE interventions. The remaining 2 priorities were concerned with research on interventions that strengthen community capabilities and meaningful community involvement in shaping the responsiveness of health services to needs.
• 8 of the top 10 priorities for newborn health focused on research on SBCE interventions that strengthen care practices, including breastfeeding, and care seeking. Addressing gender inequity, women's empowerment, and effective male involvement were also prioritised, particularly in relation to how such approaches can increase a woman's ability to care for herself and her children.
• Child health priorities focused on the delivery of SBCE interventions, emphasising determinants of service utilisation and breastfeeding and nutrition practices. Health education and community participation were mentioned as interventions to improve care practices and care seeking.
• In the cross-cutting MNCH area, there was more emphasis on the uptake of MNCH services and use of life-saving and other critical commodities. Also highlighted was a need for the better integration of SBCE approaches into programmes, including addressing all the levels of a socio-ecological model (individual, family, community, services, and policy).

The consultation process highlighted that SBCE interventions are strongly linked to the context in which they are implemented. Thus, there is a need for research on how SBCE interventions might vary across a range of different contexts. There was also consistent interest in promoting equity through SBCE research that helps overcome disparities in service access, quality, and outcomes faced by specific populations that are marginalised, disadvantaged, or vulnerable. Experts also emphasised the need to strengthen methods for SBCE research.

In conclusion: "Stakeholders are strongly encouraged to consider these priorities to guide future investment in SBCE research. WHO is committed to working with global and country-level partners to take the identified priorities and insights and...to engage with national level stakeholders to implement and use the results presented in this paper. These global research priorities and the approach described herein to develop these priorities can provide a blueprint for similar processes to be undertaken at regional and national levels."