Setting Research Priorities To Reduce Global Mortality from Childhood Diarrhoea by 2015

The Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development (CAH) of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) applied the CHNRI priority- setting methodology to address research priority issues on childhood diarrhoea to improve the rate of progress in reducing global diarrhoea mortality by 2015, as set out in the UN’ s Millennium Development Goal #4. CAH/WHO invited 24 technical experts to systematically list and then score 154 research questions on diarrhoeal diseases according to likelihood of their (i) answerability, (ii) potential contribution to effectiveness, (iii) deliverability, affordability and sustainability, (iv) maximum potential for death burden reduction and (v) predicted effect on equity. The top 10% of research investment priorities were dominated by health systems and policy research questions and epidemiological questions. They were mainly targeted at better understanding the barriers towards implementation, the effectiveness and optimization of use of available interventions and programmes such as oral rehydration solution, zinc supplementation, exclusive breastfeeding and integrated management of childhood illness.