Table 1 A research pipeline advancing knowledge to address preterm birth.
From: Born Too Soon: Accelerating actions for prevention and care of 15 million newborns born too soon
| Description | Discovery | Development | Delivery | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characterise the problem | Understand the problem | Create and develop new interventions | Advance equitable access to interventions | |
| Research aim | Descriptive epidemiology to understand determinants, advance definitions | Development of new interventions or adapting or improving existing interventions | Development of new interventions or adapting or improving existing interventions | Delivery of interventions at scale through innovative approaches |
| Preterm prevention research themes |
• Improve collection, analysis, interpretation, application of epidemiological data for: • Refining, disseminating standard definitions of exposures, outcomes and phenotypes • Further understanding of risk factors for preterm birth • Monitoring and evaluating impact of interventions • Improving the estimates and data collection systems |
• Increase knowledge of the biology of normal and abnormal pregnancy • Better understand modifiable mechanisms contributing to preterm birth (e.g., preconceptual or antenatal nutrition, infection and immune response) • Advance understanding of underlying pathophysiology of preterm newborns and impact of co-morbidities on outcomes in different country settings |
• Create, develop new interventions (e.g., novel approaches to preventing preterm birth) • Adapt existing interventions to increase effect, reduce cost, or expand utilisation and access |
• Evaluate impact, cost and process of known interventions to reduce preterm birth (e.g., family planning, STI management, malaria prevention) • Social behaviour change research to address lifestyle factors and other risks for preterm birth • Effective approaches to increase use of antenatal steroids in low- and middle-income settings |
| Premature baby care research themes |
• Create new devices and drugs for preterm babies that are feasible to use in low-income settings • Adapt existing interventions to increase effect, reduce cost, and/or improve deliverability in challenging settings or at community level (e.g., robust, simpler technologies) |
• Implementation research to adapt and scale up context-specific packages of care for preterm babies (e.g., examining task shifting, innovative commodities, etc.) • Create and implement effective community-based approaches (e.g., community health workers home visit packages, women's' groups) | ||
| Typical timeline to impact | Near-term to Long-term (2 to 15 years) | Long-term (5 to 15 years) | Medium-term (5 to 10 years) | Near-term (2 to 5 years) |