Family and community practices which promote child survival, growth and development: a review of the evidence.

This document presents the evidence for twelve family and community practices identified by UNICEF and WHO to be of key importance in providing good home-care for the child, and particularly for preventing or treating the common serious conditions included in IMCI. It is a technical review that can be used by health professionals, researchers and policy advisers to inform policy discussions and investment for programme action and research. It can also be used as a basis for advocacy to and by decision-makers in government ministries and partner agencies.

The document has three objectives. The first is to summarize the evidence available on the potential impact on child survival, growth and development of each of the 12 key family and community practices, and the evidence concerning the feasibility of interventions to improve them. The second is to identify gaps in knowledge that either hamper the assessment of impact, or that need to be filled in order to develop effective interventions, and to make recommendations for future research. The third objective is to make recommendations concerning next steps and priority-setting for both programme action and research.