GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS
Geographical areas
SDGs
SDGs
PROGRAMMATIC APPROACHES
Programmatic approaches
Promotion of Care Seeking - Stillbirths Reduced - 39.1 vs. 48.7 per 1,000
Intervention package delivered by trained lady health workers (LHWs) through group sessions (promotion of antenatal care and maternal health education, use of clean delivery kits, facility births, immediate newborn care, identification of danger signs, and promotion of careseeking)
Cluster randomized trial with 23,353 households
Social Protection and BCC - 36% More Correct Knowledge of Child Nutrition
Intensive interpersonal counseling (IPC), community mobilization, and mass media
Cluster-randomized design with repeated cross-sectional surveys
Mobile Phone Networks - Assisted Deliveries Increase of 60% vs. 47%
The association between a mobile phone intervention and skilled delivery attendance in a resource-limited setting
Pragmatic RCT
Cash Transfer - School Attendance Increased 5%-points
Cash transfer (CT) programmes
Systematic review of 7 studies, including 2 RCTs (above is quoted from a Malawian RCT involving 1,242 children)
Knowledge, Attitudes, Habits and Healthier Diets - up 10.9%
A preschool-based intervention aimed at improving knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to healthy diet and active lifestyle
Cluster RCT
Community Outreach - Routine Immunization Increased: 54% mean proportion
Arm B - additional interventions with community outreach and mobilisation; Arm C all interventions of arm B with additional provision of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) delivered at the maternal and child health camps
Cluster RCT - 387 clusters, 28,760 children
Education Sessions - 12 Percentage Point Effect on Dietary Diversity
Trained volunteers facilitating nutrition education sessions in their home villages among group of caregivers with children 5-18 months of age
Cluster RCT with 1,791 households
Counseling, Mobilization, Media - 13.6 Percentage Point Increase in Dietary Diversity
Combining intensive counseling by frontline workers with a nationwide mass media and community mobilization
Cluster-randomized, non-blinded evaluation with cross-sectional surveys
Parent Education - Childhood Vaccination up 36% (Relative Increase)
Parent and caregiver engagement on the effects on childhood vaccination coverage
Systematic review - 6 RCTs with 4,248 participants
Participatory Action - Neonatal Mortality Down 32%
Community mobilization through participatory women’s groups in poor rural and highly tribal areas.
Systematic review; 7 RCTs; 119,428 births
Trusted Gossip - Full Immunization up 11.8%
An intervention involving: key “seeds” in the community and their “trusted gossip”; small incentives (mobile credit); and phone reminders
RCT - 7 districts; 2,359 villages
Education for Empowerment and Change - Perinatal Mortality 50% lower
Information and education for empowerment and change (IEEC) for women and their husbands, training of birth attendants, and provision of telecommunication and transportation services for women
Community randomized trial; 32 village clusters, 900 households, 2,561 pregnant women
Community Mobilization - Nutrition Improved 12-17%
Intensive interpersonal counseling (IPC), community mobilization, and mass media
Cluster-randomized design with repeated cross-sectional surveys
Cash or Food Transfers with BCC - Physical Violence down 26%
Cash or food transfers with behaviour change communication (BCC)
2 cluster RCTs with 5,000 households
Partner Discussion - Contraceptive Use Increased 1.57 times
A gender equity and family planning intervention for married men, both alone and with their wives
Cluster RCT
Critical Discussion - Partner Violence down 55%
Programmes that are participatory, engage multiple stakeholders, foster critical discussion about gender relationships and the acceptability of violence, and support greater communication and shared decision making among family members, as well as non-violent behaviour
Systematic review - 100 reviews and evaluations
SMS Reminders - 86% Achieved Full Immunization
Short message service (SMS) reminders and monetary incentives
4-arm, cluster RCT
Behaviour-Centred Design - Toilets Improved by 10%
Automated SMS and a mobile phone voucher enabling 2-way communication between wired mothers and healthcare providers in a resource-limited setting
Cluster RCT
Critical Reflection and Dialogue and Sexual Violence Reduction - down 25%
Engaging men and their partners in participatory, small-group sessions of critical reflection and dialogue
Multisite RCT
Social Norms Change - Iron Consumption Increased 315%
An intervention to improve descriptive, injunctive, and collective norms featuring educational modules, videos, and feedback on haemoglobin testing
Cluster RCT
Maternal Knowledge - Children 3x More Likely to Be Fully Immunized
Maternal knowledge, maternal attitude, and self-efficacy and maternal outcome expectations
Systematic review - 51 included studies
ICT and Continuum of Care Service - Health Worker Visits up 11 Percentage Points
The Information Communication Technology-Continuum of Care Service (ICT-CCS) tool designed for use by community-based frontline workers to increase the coverage, quality, and coordination of services
Cluster RCT
Peer Groups - Wasting Reduction of 33%
Community home visits and peer group nutrition intervention delivery platforms
Systematic review - 83 RCTs, quasi-randomized, and controlled before-after studies
Community Action - Odds of Minimum Dietary Diversity up 39%
Participatory women's groups, counselling through home visits, and monthly women's meetings to promote individual and community action for nutrition.
Cluster RCT
Equity Promotion - 50% of Studies Reporting Healthy Adolescent Relationship Improvement
Education or training for healthy relationships, promotion of gender-equitable attitudes or norms, and modifications to school environments, policies, or services
Systematic review with 52 evaluations, 20 from LMICs and 36 RCTs or cluster RCTs
Raising Voices - Violence Reduction of 21%
Interactive group sessions, community campaigns, and activism
(raising voices)
3-arm cluster RCT; 2,670 at endline
In-kind Transfers and Decrease in Child Marriage - 5.1% lower
Interventions that support girls' school attendance and progress through cash or in-kind transfers
Systematic review of 34 studies published between 2000 and 2019, covering 30 distinct evaluations
Risk Information - Teen Pregnancy Reduced 28%
Providing information on the relative risk of HIV infection by partner’s age
RCT with 328 primary schools
Parenting Initiatives - Child Development Improvements up to 12.55%
Parenting interventions in the first 3 years of life:
Systematic review including 111 articles representing 102 unique RCTs
Community Decision-making - Vaccination 12 Times More Likely
Engaging communities in decision-making and action through traditional and religious leaders
Cluster RCT
Perinatal Mortality Reduced: 19 vs. 36 per 1,000
Automated SMS and a mobile phone voucher enabling 2-way communication between wired mothers and healthcare providers in a resource-limited setting
Cluster RCT
Text Messages - Correct Malaria Treatment Increased up to 24.5%
Text message reminders
Cluster RCT at 107 rural health facilities with 2,269 child cases
Camps and Full Immunisation Increase - 39% vs. 6%
Intervention A: regular availability of immunization services, mobile immunization team, monthly immunization camps; Intervention B: adds 1 kg of raw lentils per immunization and a set of thalis on completion
Cluster RCT
Women's Groups - Maternal Mortality down 74%
Women's groups, health education by peer counsellors and a community action cycle strategy.
2×2 factorial cluster RCT monitoring 26,262 births
Radio Campaign - Primary Care Consultations up 35%
A radio campaign addressing family behaviours on all-cause post-neonatal under-5 child mortality
Repeated cross-sectional cluster RCT
Gender-Transformation Curriculum - IPV 56% Less Likely
A gender transformative curriculum for couples.
Community RCT - 1,575 participants
Misinformation Exposure and Misinformation Impacts - Vaccine Intention down 6.2%-6.4%
The causal impact of exposure to online pieces of misinformation relating to COVID-19 and vaccines on the intent to accept a COVID-19 vaccine
Pre- post-exposure study design with 8,001 respondents
Community Conversation - Neonatal Mortality down 19%
Health information and education, behaviour change communication, social mobilization, community mobilization and dialogues, and home-based counseling
Systematic review of randomized controlled community trials
Interpersonal Communication - 38.9% Difference in Exclusive Breastfeeding
Interpersonal communication and community mobilization activities
RCT
Father Engagement - Intimate Partner Violence down 39%
Sugira Muryango (SM - a home-visiting intervention linked to Rwanda's social protection system) and integrated promotion of father engagement and family violence prevention
Cluster RCT with 1,049 families
Community Women's Groups - 22% Lower Neonatal Mortality
Effects of quality improvement in health facilities and community mobilization through women's groups
2x2 factorial cluster RCT
Training and Information - Young Women's Engagement in Income Generation up 48%
Vocational training and information on sex, reproduction, and marriage
RCT; 5,966 adolescent girls surveyed at baseline
Community Mobilization - IPV Reduction of 16% vs. 12%
Community-level mobilization, promotion of safe HIV disclosure, and risk reduction
Existing cluster randomized cohort
Participatory Learning - Diabetes Reduced 20.7%
mHealth and community mobilization (participatory learning and action cycle)
20.7% reduction in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes.
Translation of academic data - see line 6
Three-arm, cluster-randomised trial
SBC Communication - 14% Difference in Prevalence of Stunting
Unconditional cash transfer (UCT), lipid-based nutrient supplement (LNS), and/or social and behaviour change communication (SBCC)
4-arm, community-based cluster RCT with 1,729 children
Interactive Peer Groups and Motivational SMS - Incorrect Malaria Treatment down 4%
Training in small interactive peer-group sessions with motivational SMS at later stages
3-arm stratified cluster-randomized trial with 44,121 participants
Social Health Activists - Neonatal Mortality Reduced: 30 vs. 44 per 1,000
Social health activists supporting women's groups through a participatory learning and action meeting cycle
Cluster RCT
Counseling, Mobilization, and Media - 8 Percentage Point Difference in Acceptable Diet
Interpersonal counselling, community mobilization, and mass media
Cluster-randomized, nonblinded evaluation with cross-sectional surveys
Counselling - Breastfeeding Doubled
Exclusive breastfeeding counselling by peer counsellors
Cluster RCT with 2,579 mother-infant pairs
Film, Skits, and Public Pledging - Handwashing Increase of 37% vs. 6%
Community and school-based events incorporating an animated film, skits, and public pledging ceremonies
Cluster-randomized trial with 14 villages (clusters), each with 700-2,000 people
Text-Based Reminders - Vaccination Rates Increased 26%
Text-based reminders
Two sequential RCTs
Empowerment around FGM - 69% Talked to Family vs. 12% in Control
Community-based interventions empowering participants along with others in their networks
3-phase blind control single blind cluster trial
GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS
Geographical areas
SDGs
SDGs
PROGRAMMATIC APPROACHES
Programmatic approaches
School-based Health Hygiene Education - 58% Lower Ascaris Lumbricoides Infection
A school-based health hygiene education intervention integrated into a general school deworming programme
Cluster RCT
Nutrition and Health Behaviour Change Communication, along with Home Visits - 15.9 Percentage Point Reduction in Diarrhoea
Agriculture production activities integrated with nutrition and health behaviour change communication (BCC), along with home visits by either an older woman leader or health committee member
Cluster RCT
Comprehensive Sexuality Education and Services - Youth Pregnancies Down More than 50%
Study participants were randomised into 3 arms: The first arm continued standard instruction of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) (control). In the second arm, (CSE + Health Outreach), information on available sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services was provided in schools though health fairs run by health workers to complement CSE. In the third arm (CSE + Responsive Adolescent SRH Services), learners receiving CSE were encouraged or supported to access SRH services where health providers had been trained to be more receptive to adolescents’ SRH health needs. Teachers were also encouraged to introduce students to health services.
3-arm RCT
Behaviour-based Sexual Assault Prevention - 3.7% Decrease in Risk of Sexual Assault
Behaviour-based sexual assault prevention intervention in informal settlements involving classroom-based separate training sessions for girls and boys
Matched-pairs, cluster-randomised study
Peer Education - Improved Mental Resilience
Peer education in primary and middle school to improve mental health and resilience
Cluster RCT
Involving Male Partners in Maternity Care - Better Adherence to Healthy Practices after Childbirth
A set of educational sessions designed to involve the male partners of pregnant women in facility-based maternity care in order to influence care-seeking, healthy breastfeeding, and contraceptive practices after childbirth
RCT
Gender-Sensitive Curriculum - 16% of Regressive Attitudes Converted
Discussion-based, facilitated classroom sessions to create awareness of gender-based discrimination, change dominant gendered perceptions, promote gender-equitable attitudes, raise girls' aspirations, and provide tools to participants to translate attitude change and greater aspirations into behaviour change
RCT with 14,809 students at baseline (across 149 treatment schools and 164 control schools)
Gender Socialisation, Relationship Training, and More - 6-Percentage-Point Increase in Women's Participation in Household Decision-making
Three-layered interventions involving (i) gender socialisation and relationship training, (ii) financial literacy and household budget management, and (iii) couples' counselling on modern contraceptive methods with vouchers available
4-arm cluster RCT with 1,064 couples
School-based Behaviour Change Intervention - 1.9 Times Lower Rate of Sexual Initiation
A school-based intervention that sought to reduce sexual initiation and promote condom use through peer education, teacher-led lessons, and youth-friendly health service clinics
Cluster RCT with 5,091 adolescents
Mobile-based Conditional Cash Transfers - 62.3% vs. 58.4% Full Immunisation
Mobile-based conditional cash transfers (mCCT) with varying amounts, schedule, design, and payment method with or without automatic short messaging service (SMS) reminders
7-arm, factorial RCT with 5 mCCT arms, one reminder (SMS)-only arm, and one control arm; 11,197 caregiver-child pairs
Community-based Action Teams - Reduced Women's Experiences of IPV, Depression, and Partner Controlling Behaviour
A community-based intervention that sought to address violence against women and support victims of violence through action teams that are nominated by the community to carry out awareness of VAW, change gender norms, and create referral systems for victims
RCT (3,280 participants with 1,640 per trial arm)
Empowerment Self-defense - Reduced Past-year Sexual Assault Prevalence
Empowerment self-defense to bolster self-confidence and verbal and physical safety skills in order to prevent sexual violence perpetrated again adolescent girls and young women
Cluster RCT with 7,832 students
Home Visits - Reduced Problems in Pregnancy and Postpartum
Universal home visits that discussed risk factors with pregnant women and their spouses, such as domestic violence and heavy work during pregnancy, that could lead to maternal morbidity
RCT
Mentor-Facilitated Life Skills Programming - Greater Odds of Believing in Delaying Marriage and Child-Rearing
Mentor-facilitated life skills programming, with some also providing caregiver sessions
Systematic review with 7 studies (2 of them cluster RCTs)
Theory-based HIV/STD Intervention - Approx. 50% Reduction in Unprotected Intercourse
A theory-based HIV/sexually transmitted disease (STD) risk-reduction intervention delivered in schools that involved facilitated sessions seeking to increase knowledge about HIV/STDs, enhance behavioural beliefs that support abstinence and condom use, and increase skills and self-efficacy to negotiate abstinence and condom use - as well as to encourage caregiver involvement
Cluster RCT
Congregation-based Health Education - 37% More Pregnant Women Tested for HIV
Culturally adapted, family-centred approach that relies on widely distributed religious infrastructure and church-based community networks
RCT
Community Mobilisation - 19.8% vs. 14.3% Virally Suppressed
Engaging in community mobilization activities, harnessing networks for message dissemination, and forging organised community action
Cluster RCT with 8 intervention communities (n=20,544 residents) and 7 control communities (n=17,848)
Gender-transformative Mentoring and Cash Transfer - 46% Less Likely to Be Married
Facilitated lifeskills sessions, caregiver discussion groups, savings start-up for girls, community action events, and capacity strengthening for local health and psychosocial service providers (with the GE+ variation adding an incentive payment to caregivers tied to girls' participation in weekly sessions)
Parallel cluster RCT
Conditional Cash Transfer - Increased Net Enrolment Rate by 7.1%
Conditional cash transfer programme in Indonesia that seeks to improve academic performance of the most economically vulnerable students by ensuring increased student school enrollment and attendance at elementary and junior high school level
RCT with 14,400 households
Community-based Action Teams - Reduced Women's Experiences of IPV, Depression, and Partner Controlling Behaviour
A community-based intervention that sought to address violence against women and support victims of violence through action teams that are nominated by the community to carry out awareness of VAW, change gender norms, and create referral systems for victims
RCT (3,280 participants with 1,640 per trial arm)
Curriculum-based Programming, Group Meetings, and Facilitated Community Conversations on Gender Norms - 15.8 Percentage Point Knowledge Improvement
Curriculum-based programming for adolescent girls and boys, group meetings for parents, and facilitated community conversations on gender norms with the objective to address gender norms around menstruation and improve menstrual health literacy
Cluster RCT
Focused Psychosocial Support - Beneficial Effect on PTSD Symptoms
Focused psychosocial support interventions for children exposed to traumatic events in humanitarian settings in low-income countries (LICs)
Systematic review of 11 RCTs
Life Skills - Reduced Adolescent Anger, Depression, and Anxiety
Life skills programmes that addressed adolescent health in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including mental health
Systematic review of 33 RCTs
Community Participation - Reduced Childhood Mortality
Community participation and employment of village health workers to support home-based child care (HBCC) in an impoverished area
Cluster RCT
Sexuality Education - Reduced Sexual Risk
Sexuality education programme using a participatory action methodology to reduce sexual risk behaviours
Cluster RCT
Working with Religious Leaders - Significantly Reduced the Probability that a Man Committed Violence against his Partner
An intervention, Becoming One (B1), that works with religious leaders to introduce a range of relationship skills as part of their traditional role as couples counsellor in an effort to address intimate partner violence (IPV)
RCT
Gender Socialisation - 5-Point Reduction in Physical IPV
A gender socialisation (GS) intervention that addresses harmful gender norms and inculcates egalitarian spousal relationships, layered with components on financial literacy (FL) education and contraceptive counselling to bolster women's empowerment
Cluster RCT
Educating Religious Leaders - 23.3% More Men Circumcised
Male circumcision outreach activities that included the involvement of Christian church leaders in the promotion of male circumcision after they were given training on circumcision and given tools to lead their congregation in the understanding and practice of male circumcision
RCT
Good Schools Toolkit - Violence Reduced
Activities for teachers, students, and school administration that promote respect, participation, and reflection on concepts and exercise of power in an effort to prevent emotional, physical and sexual violence in schools perpetrated against students by school staff or their peers
RCT
Cash Transfers and Group Nutrition Education - 15.6%-Point Increase in Early Initiation of Breastfeeding
Cash transfers and monthly group nutrition education sessions led by locally recruited community health volunteers
RCT
Mobile-phone-based Communication - 3.7% Higher Use of Modern Reversible Contraceptives
Mobile-phone-based communication programme for maternal and child health
RCT
Preventing violence against refugee adolescent girls
Interpersonal violence is a critical public health concern in humanitarian contexts, but evidence of effective violence prevention programmes targeting adolescent girls is lacking. We investigated the efficacy of a life skills and safe spaces programme to reduce adolescent girls’ experiences of interpersonal violence in a refugee setting.
RCT
Cash Transfer for HIV Prevention - 90% of Studies Measuring Change in Sexual Behaviours Found a Positive Impact
Using cash for prevention of sexual transmission of HIV, with the purpose of the transfer varying by study (and conditionality or not): school attendance, school completion, poverty alleviation, and completion of health promotion activities, such as sexually transmitted infection (STI)/HIV testing
Systematic review with 16 studies, of which 15 are RCTs
Use of a Social Accountability Tool - 20% Increase in Community Health Worker Visits to Pregnant Women
A social accountability tool to improve maternal and reproductive health outcomes by empowering community members, health service providers, and others to identify and overcome obstacles in resource-limited settings
Cluster RCT
A Play-based Life-skills Intervention - 25.3% vs. 11.1% Boys' Peer Violence Perpetration
A structured play-based life-skills intervention implemented in schools in Pakistan to reduce intolerance, gender discrimination, and peer violence
Cluster RCT
Unconditional Cash Transfer Programme - 7-8 Percentage Point Increase in School Enrolment among Children 11-14
An unconditional cash transfer programme
RCT
Changing Norms Related to Early Childbearing - 3.8x More Likely to Use Contraceptives
Preventing early marriage and delaying first childbirth within marriage through: involvement of community leaders, parents, and in-laws; training of unmarried adolescents, newlywed couples, and health service providers; group meetings and counselling for young people; and general messaging through street theatre and wall paintings
RCT - Editor's note: One research expert involved in reviewing these studies is of the opinion that this study is not an RCT but, rather, a pre-post design (as it does not measure effects on the same participants). It is The CI's decision to include.
An E-reader Intervention with Community Engagement - Girls' Literacy Improved
An e-reader intervention embedded in a "safe space" platform and including community engagement activities, which sought to improve literacy, as well as numeracy and non-verbal reasoning in adolescent girls
3-arm RCT
Community Mobilisation and Peer/Youth Engagement - Fewer Young Men Reporting Sexual Debut
Community mobilisation, peer education, supporting health workers to provide youth-friendly sexual health services, and peer condom social marketing
Community-randomised trial
Participatory Learning - 33% Reduction in the Incidence of HSV-2
HIV prevention and sexual health improvement intervention using participatory learning approaches to build knowledge, risk awareness, and communication skills and to stimulate critical reflection
RCT
Unconditional Cash Transfer - Reduced Relative Odds of Sexual Debut among People Ages 15-25 by 31%
An unconditional transfer of US$20 per month directly to the main caregiver in the household
RCT
Psychological and/or Social interventions - Lower Chance of IPV
Psychological and/or social interventions (not simply provision of material resources) in individual and group format, sexual and/or health education and counselling, and educational discussion groups, as well as community mobilisation interventions and comprehensive community resource provision that included psychosocial support
Meta-analysis of 13 RCTs
Psychosocial Resilience Curriculum - Improved Physical Health for Adolescent Girls
A comprehensive, scalable programme that combines evidence-based curricula that promote health [the Girls First Health Curriculum (HC)] as well as resilience/psychosocial wellbeing [the Girls First Resilience Curriculum (RC)] for marginalised girls in India
RCT
Gender-transformative, Participatory Intervention - 22% Less Likely That Men Would Perpetrate IPV
A gender-transformative, participatory intervention delivered to men, women, or couples in Ethiopia to prevent intimate partner violence (IPV) that was implemented in the context of the coffee ceremony, a traditional community-based discussion forum
Cluster RCT with 6,770 households
HIV-positive Peer Mentors - Infants 2.38x More Likely to Be Breastfed Exclusively for at Least 6 Months
A clinic-based support intervention that involves HIV-positive peer mentors, in addition to standard clinic (SC) care, to improve maternal and infant well-being among women living with HIV (WLH) from pregnancy through the infant's first year of life
Cluster RCT
School-based Handwashing Promotion - Significantly Reduced Absenteeism
A standard school-based handwashing programme as compared to an expanded version that included soap for school sinks and student handwashing champions/peer hygiene monitors
Cluster RCT
Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness (BPCR) Interventions - 18% Reduction in Neonatal Mortality Risk
Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness (BPCR) interventions - often using community health workers and health promotion groups or women's groups and often incorporating community mobilisation activities - that engage women, families, and communities during the prenatal, postnatal, and neonatal periods to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality in developing countries
Systematic review
Awareness Raising on Hand Hygiene - Reduction in School Absences due to Illness
An intensive campaign involving students, teachers, and parents that used booklets, games, and fun activities to promote hand hygiene
RCT (20,882 students in the intervention schools and 23,569 students in the control schools)
Savings Group Curriculum - 8% Higher Prevalence of Paying School Fees
A curriculum delivered within savings groups to help caregivers of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) affected by HIV in Uganda to plan and save for the education-, nutritious food-, and health-related expenses for all the children in their care
RCT
Handwashing Promotion - 27% Fewer School Absences due to Illnesses
A hand washing with soap communication intervention that established social norms for child and mother, used the fear of contamination and disgust, and created peer pressure.
RCT
Nutrition Social Behaviour Change Communication - 87% of RCTs Reported a Significant Positive Effect on Early Initiation of Breastfeeding
Nutrition social behaviour change communication (NSBCC) interventions (interpersonal counselling, use of media (IEC materials, mass media, phone messaging), community mobilisation)
Systematic review with 80 studies (51 cluster RCTs and 13 RCTs)