Public health campaigns have a place in delivering child health services, especially in difficult environments, predominantly for delivery of vaccinations. For some time, routine primary health care services have been supplemented by various campaigns, such as National Immunization Days (NIDS), and this has been viewed as essential to the control of conditions such as polio and measles. Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIAs) are recommended as a measles elimination strategy in places where routine coverage with measles vaccine is low. They have been important in controlling measles in Africa, although need care with implementation to be effective. Even if essential, such campaigns need to be treated with caution, because they can have both positive and negative effects on routine health services. Campaigns have also been used to deliver other interventions such as Vitamin A and insecticide treated bed nets.

In 2003-2005, the NGO COTALMA initiated a project to improve parameters associated with exclusive breastfeeding in the Bolivian town of El Alto, adjacent to La Paz. A 2002 study suggested that only 9.9% of children exclusively breastfed up to 6 months in El Alto. El Alto is notable for its sizeable indigenous population and for the presence of manzaneras de la salud, volunteer community health workers in charge of their neighborhood block. The intervention was implemented in the Corea Health Network of El Alto, a cachement containing approximately 187,000 people. This study was undertaken in order to document the effect of this program. The project improved breastfeeding in the community, but was not able to strengthen the relationship between manzaneras and health centers. In spite of the improvements seen during this project,the manzaneras program suffers from high volunteer turnover. The manzaneras require more support from the government and community if they are to continue to improve the health of their communities.

The implementation of SIAN was noted to be top-down in nature, which sometimes led to incorrect planning,suspected vitamin A shortages and inappropriate strategies for vitamin A delivery to the community. Moreconsultation with the community may remedy these problems. The most effective means of mobilizing thecommunity appeared to be word-of-mouth efforts by health workers, neighbours, and local leaders. Radioannouncements were ineffectual in conveying information about vitamin A to the community, and should bereassessed. Health-centre-based distribution programs suffered low turnout, but door-to-door strategiesappear to have been effective and should be included in future distribution strategies. Vitamin A capsuledistributors rarely covered all of the SIAN themes in their lectures to women, and could benefit from moreextensive training.

Child Health and Nutrition (CHN) Research in Asia and the Pacific is a component of the Global Forum for Health Research - Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative's regional assessments in the developing world. The Asia-Pacific Regional Assessment is one of a three-continent (Africa,Central and Latin America, and Asia and the Pacific) review using available data and resources to describe the progress and status of child health and nutrition, identify various stakeholders in CHN and how research has contributed to this condition.

Latin America faces a double burden of nutritional disease that affects health throughout the life course. This research monograph highlights its findings on identification of the key nutrition problems of children in Latin America during childhood and throughout the life cycle by (a) proposing health and nutrition research priorities in integration of epidemiological evidence and available science base in the region, (b) defining a geographic/physical map of stakeholders i.e. individual researchers, organizations, universities, NGOs and other organizations that play a role in the field of child health and nutrition research in the region, (c) generate a discussion of the 'regional profile' and research agenda among research institutions, (d) national governments and potential donors, (d) developing a self-training modules that address the priority setting process for short-term training activities, and (e) editing a set of final documents and disseminate results widely after receiving input from the applied research community, national and regional organizations, and potential donors.

The advantage of the new methodology is that it doesn't consider generating new knowledge as the sole endpoint of research, but it rather addresses several components of a research option, such as likelihood that the results of research would lead to effective and deliverable intervention. It also incorporates the views of both technical experts and stakeholders (donors and recipients in health research). Involving the stakeholders in priority setting process is very important, as research priorities defined by the scientists are often different from those defined by the donors or the recipients of the conducted health research.

The present report includes information from a 20 country purposive sample of the WHO AFRO Region, with the exception of Algeria. From each sampled country, a country collaborator collected information on nation specific child health and nutrition research and priorities. For this objective, the country collaborator used a literature review process to compile relevant reports and a structured questionnaire to collect information directly from national key informants and role-players.

The objective of the Project was to rapidly increase levels of exclusive breastfeeding at a broad scale inMadagascar. A community level behavior change strategy model previously developed and successfully used in highland areas of the country was streamlined and adapted for use in three districts of the coastal provinces of Tulear and Mahajanga, covering a total population of 1.4 million. International experts continue to cite the significant contribution of improved breastfeeding for neonatal, infant and child survival. The findings of this present project confirm that in the Madagascar context, it is possible to integrate breastfeeding promotion into existing heath and community activities in a way which achieves broad coverage and obtains results within a relatively short time frame. The experience of this Project, as well as other similar endeavors undertaken elsewhere in the world, suggests broad scale improvement in breastfeeding practices is possible.

Children, as one of our most vulnerable populations, face unusually high health risks as they grow. With still-developing immune systems, they are completely reliant on others for their survival. The obstacles to optimal health are greatest for children born into poverty; those are also the most likely to be exposed to infectious disease and unclean water, and at the greatest risk of malnutrition.