We adapted the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiativ

We adapted the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) methodology to score competing future research topics on quality maternal and newborn care and the contribution of midwifery to that care. This method has been used to set health research priorities for infant and childhood conditions, reduction of maternal and perinatal mortality, and preterm birth and stillbirths. A team representing expertise in maternal and newborn health research, including authors from \'s Series on Midwifery, contributors from WHO, UNFPA, the International Confederation of Midwives, and a representative of or advocate for service users conducted the work. The team identified 30 research topics based on an analysis of gaps in the evidence presented in the 2014 Series on Midwifery. Stakeholders were asked to consider the potential research topics in terms of their relevance, significance, and potential future implementation based on five criteria: answerability, buy GSK126 involvement, sustainability, equity, and maximal impact. The 30 research topics and scoring criteria were distributed in English, French, and Spanish online surveys to 1191 stakeholders, including constituents of the global Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (PMNCH) and representatives from all WHO regions. Stakeholders were asked to score each of the 30 research topics as 1·0 (yes), 0·5 (informed but undecided answer), or (no) on whether they met each of the five criteria. It was possible to omit a score if a respondent did not feel confident to decide on a criterion; these were regarded as missing data and not part of the denominator. Summary scores for each criterion and an overall score were then computed as the sum of the scores divided by the number of actual scorers.
Sept 28 is the tenth annual . It is a date that commemorates the anniversary of the 1895 death of Louis Pasteur, who developed the first human rabies vaccine. Modern effective vaccines, combined with other interventions, the necessary political will, and community awareness make the disease 100% preventable. Yet, an estimated 59 000 people still die from the disease every year. World Rabies Day is thus an uncomfortable reminder for the global health community of the ongoing neglect of this disease. The theme for 2016 is “Educate. Vaccinate. Eliminate”, a slogan that emphasises the pillars of rabies prevention and the vision to end human rabies deaths. Rabies has no cure, and by the time of clinical onset it is invariably fatal. More than 95% of deaths occur in Africa and Asia, 80% of which are in people living in rural, underserved populations, most of whom are children. Community awareness about the power of preventing dog bites and of life-saving human post-exposure prophylaxis is key. 95–99% of human rabies cases are from dog bites, meaning that canine vaccination programmes are crucial if the transmission cycle is to be broken. Cross-sectoral solutions from stakeholders in both human and animal health systems are essential for the greatest benefits to be realised. In December, 2015, WHO, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) endorsed a global framework to eliminate human deaths from dog-mediated disease by 2030. The decision was reinforced by the OIE in May this year. A business plan by the key organisations to quantify the costs of reaching zero rabies deaths across the world is under development. Under our One Health Initiative, WHO, OIE, FAO, and GARC are working on concurrent campaigns to eliminate canine rabies through the vaccination of dogs, the treatment of all potential human rabies exposures with wound washing and post-exposure prophylaxis, and the improvement of education about rabies prevention where it is needed most. By prioritising rabies, our partnership also intends to leverage the global political will needed to eliminate the disease. Reaching zero rabies deaths would contribute towards fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly goal 3·3, which targets an end to epidemics of neglected tropical diseases. The goal is ambitious but possible, as evidenced by the progress made in rabies campaigns around the world. Such examples of successful multisectoral approaches serve as both a reference and motivation for future campaigns. Countries will need improved access to high quality and optimally priced dog and human vaccines, as well as to rabies immunoglobulins. Insufficient national forecasting at present means that vaccine requests from countries to manufacturers can be left unfulfilled because of long lead times in production. In such instances, countries are forced to turn to suppliers without quality-assured vaccine. Improvements in supply will help to overcome these difficulties. To match the OIE-led dog rabies vaccine bank, WHO is therefore creating a human rabies vaccine stockpile, planned to be operation by the end of next year.