Setting Global Research Priorities for Private Sector Child Health: A CHNRI Exercise

A recent SHOPS Plus literature review of private sector approaches to manage childhood illness found critical evidence gaps. Though both the public and private sectors are key sources for sick child care in low- and middle-income countries, there is an urgent need to better understand how to harness and improve the private health sector’s role in improving child health and survival. Specifically, a research agenda was needed to identify the most effective private sector approaches to accelerate progress towards child health Sustainable Development Goals.

To fill this gap, SHOPS Plus collaborated with USAID and Boston University to lead a collaborative Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) process to identify priority research questions that address evidence gaps in private health sector childhood case management approaches. This private sector CHNRI focused on defining actionable research priorities that could result in private health sector interventions and strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality among children under age 5 in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Methods:

The CHNRI process is a consultative process that includes six distinct steps:

1. Identify and invite experts to participate in the process
2. Determine criteria against which participants evaluate all questions
3. Ask experts to submit their ideas for priority research questions
4. Refine submitted research questions to reduce duplication
5. Field evaluation survey to experts, asking them to evaluate refined list of research ideas
6. Analyze results

The process engages experts from programmatic, research, donor, government, policy, and implementation backgrounds to participate in this process. Our private sector CHNRI included nearly 90 participants from diverse backgrounds. Together, participants submitted over 150 research priorities that we refined to a final list of 50 questions for evaluation. The finalized list of top research priorities was disseminated through a journal article and webinar.

Relevant Resources:

• Journal article published in the Journal of Global Health
• Webinar recording

Status: Completed
Last Update: March 2021

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