Determining health priorities helps direct resources that will have the greatest impact on community health status. With so many challenging needs, selecting priorities and establishing objectives may seem like a difficult task. Within the last decade or so, a number of initiatives have been undertaken to help countries identify health priorities and effective interventions designed to improve child survival.

In 2001, OCHRC initiated its own priority-setting initiative by requesting proposals on the Regional Assessment of Research Priorities and Research Institutions and in 2002 contracted with three institutions in Latin America, Asia, and Africa to conduct the assessments in their respective regions. These initiatives have made recognized contributions to promoting priority setting in child health and nutrition research.

In 2004 the OCHRC Board approved a proposal to further expand priority setting to focus on key conditions affecting childhood morbidity and mortality. This assessment will be limited to children under 5. Analyses will be conducted at the global level but will also address significant regional variation.