Designing feasible interventions for healthy pregnancies in low-resource settings

In low-resource settings there is a need for effective interventions targeting women before and during pregnancy to improve their health outcomes and provide the best start to life for their infants. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview for designing, implementing, and evaluating such interventions. Drawing upon published literature and case studies, several key steps in the process of intervention design, implementation, and evaluation are identified. Pregnancy intervention studies in low-resource settings are challenging. Essential intervention process steps include: (1) selecting the optimal setting to pilot the intervention; (2) forming strong stakeholder collaborations; (3) identifying, understanding, and prioritizing community health problems; (4) facilitating the demand for intervention research and evidence utilization; (5) effectively implementing and evaluating the prototype intervention to provide evidence of effectiveness; and (6) planning with stakeholders for sustainability. Fundamental to any intervention for healthy pregnancies is the understanding that the process does not end with an evaluation study, but rather the end goal is to ensure successful interventions are sustainable, scalable, and integrated into health services.