Setting a research agenda to advance maternal, newborn, and child health in Ethiopia: An adapted CHNRI prioritization exercise

Background Critical to the improvement of maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) in Ethiopia - where 14 000 mothers die from pregnancy-, childbirth-, or postpartum-related complications each year - is high-quality research and its effective translation into policy and practice. While Ethio-pia has rapidly expanded the number of institutions that train and conduct MNCH research, the absence of a shared research agenda inhibits a coor-dinated approach to inform critical MNCH policy needs. The HaSET Ma-ternal and Child Health Research Program (MCHRP) conducted a mixed methods formative assessment and prioritization exercise to guide invest-ments in future MNCH research in Ethiopia.Methods We adapted the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) method, soliciting 56 priority research questions via key infor-mant interviews. Through an online survey, experts scored these on their ability to generate new, actionable evidence that could inform more effective and equitable MNCH programs in Ethiopia. At a workshop in Addis Aba-ba, experts scored the questions by answerability and ethics, usefulness, disease burden reduction, and impact on equity. Research priority scores were calculated for both the online survey and workshop scoring and av-eraged to attain a ranked priority list. We validated and contextualized the results by conducting consensus-building discussions with MNCH experts and two community workshops. In total, approximately 100 participants were involved.Results Average research priority scores ranged from 58.4 to 83.7 out of 100.0. The top identified research priorities speak to critical needs in the Ethiopian context: to improve population coverage of proven interventions like integrated community case management (ICCM), family integrated newborn care, and kangaroo mother care (KMC); to better understand the determinants of outcomes like home deliveries, immunization drop-out, and antenatal and postpartum care-seeking; and to strengthen health sys-tem and workforce capabilities.Conclusions This exercise expanded on the CHNRI methodology by com-paring prioritization across different audiences, formats, and criteria. Agree-ment between both scoring rounds and consensus-building discussions was strong, demonstrating the reliability of the CHNRI method. By sharing this research priority list broadly among researchers, practitioners, and donors, we aim to improve coordinated MNCH evidence generation and translation into policy in Ethiopia.

Automated summary

Background Critical to the improvement of maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) in Ethiopia is high-quality research and its effective translation into policy and practice. The HaSET Maternal and Child Health Research Program conducted a mixed methods formative assessment to guide investments in future MNCH research in Ethiopia. The top identified research priorities include improving population coverage of proven interventions, understanding determinants of outcomes, and strengthening health system and workforce capabilities.