Update/Le Point Research steps in the development and

Presented is a conceptual framework forplanning intervention-related research. Altogether, nine steps in the process of developing and evaluating public health interventions are specified. This process is dynamic and iterative, and all steps are not always required, or need follow in sequence. The framework can be used to set research priorities by verifying where there is sufficient knowledge to move forward and by identifying critical information gaps. It can also help select appropriate research designs, as each step is characterized by certain types of studies. Greater effort is required to move beyond descriptive epidemiological and behavioural studies, to intervention studies. Field trials of public health interventions require particular attention as they are often neglected, despite their significance for public health policy and practice. This century research has paved the way for major advances to be made in public health. More research is, however, required to develop new or improved public health interventions to deal with the common causes of morbidity, mortality or disability against a background of dwindling resources, especially in de-veloping countries. In this article, we describe an approach to planning intervention-related research based on observations of research managed by a number of agencies and on personal experience in conducting or facilitating research in various coun-tries. Considerable wastage and confusion occur be-cause of poor understanding of the process of intervention development and evaluation. Neverthe-less, goals can be clarified, arguments resolved, and outstanding research accomplished when reference is made to an explicit conceptual framework (Fig. 1). Progress is made from left to right in Fig. 1, from a description of the problem towards the testing and improvement of public health interventions. Below we describe the different steps that we have identified