A realist review of community mobilization for maternal/newborn health programming

Community participation, engagement, and mobilization are common components of many maternal/newborn health programs, but there is little consensus on how critical these components are to achieving program goals. Using a realist review perspective, we systematically reviewed a spectrum of community mobilization (CM) interventions to evaluate the evidence-base supporting their use in maternal/newborn health programs. Consistent with theoretical assumptions, we found that interventions engaging community members more thoroughly tend to produce better outcomes than those with less community engagement. Despite this, many fewer programs exist with thorough engagement than with more cursory engagement. Of the 27 interventions reviewed, the strongest evidence exists for improving newborn care, increasing post-natal visits and reducing neonatal mortality. Although CM appears to contribute to improvements for maternal/newborn health, gaps remain.  More evaluation research on how, and under what conditions, CM is most effective is needed in order to target program resources strategically.