A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Community-Based Primary Health Care in Improving Child Health: Main Findings

The purpose of the review and the methodology is contained in Dr. Paul Freeman's presentation. The systematic review of the effectiveness of CBPHC in improving child health includes approximately 200 articles, 160 or so from the peer-reviewed scientific literature, 10 books, and 30 unpublished evaluations of CBPHC projects. For each document which was reviewed, information was extracted about the details of the intervention, the type of collaboration with the community (if any), and the results obtained. The data was analyzed with EPI INFO. At the time of the submission of this abstract, we are still in the midst of the review process, so it is premature to announce any findings. We expect to have the review finished in early March 2007 and a report sent to the Expert Review Panel in the third week of March. Again, it is not possible to state the recommendations arising from this since the Expert Review Panel has not received the report of the review nor has the Panel had a chance to meet. These activities will take place in April 2007.