Commissioned Review Article Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Mass Media Interventions for Child Survival in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Through a systematic review of the literature, this article summarizes and evaluates evidence for the effectiveness of mass media interventions for child survival. To be included, studies had to describe a mass media intervention; address a child survival health topic; present quantitative data from a low- or middle-income country; use an evaluation design that compared outcomes using pre- and postintervention data, treatment versus comparison groups, or postintervention data across levels of exposure; and report a behavioral or health outcome. The 111 campaign evaluations that met the inclusion criteria included 15 diarrheal disease, 8 immunization, 2 malaria, 14 nutrition, 1 preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, 4 respir-atory disease, and 67 reproductive health interventions. These evaluations were then sorted into weak (n 33), moderate (n 32), and stronger evaluations (n 46) on the basis of the sampling method, the evaluation design, and efforts to address threats to inference of mass media effects. The moderate and stronger evaluations provide evidence that mass media-centric campaigns can positively impact a wide range of child survival health behaviors. Beginning in the 1960s, ministries of health in low- and middle-income countries partnered with international organizations to implement interventions addressing maternal and child health. Although global child mortality rates have declined by 70 % in the past 50 years, more than 7 million children under the age of 5 years still die each year. In 2012, the Child Survival Call to Actio