Evidence

Evidence on children's well-being, problem first.

Every finding is tied to a defined problem for children, the intervention that claims to solve it, and its type of design. Open any card to compare the same intervention across countries.

89 evidence items · page 5 of 8

Survival

Problem

Stunting (poor linear growth) in children under 5 years in a high-prevalence region, with micronutrient supplementation often disappointing possibly because of non-compliance

Intervention: Daily micronutrient-fortified hot drink (atole, 'Chispuditos', with 9 mg zinc and 12.5 mg iron) for 18 months, compared with lactose-free milk
Population: 971 children aged 6 to 72 months (681 fortified drink, 290 milk) in a region with high stunting prevalence

Key finding

Mean change in height-for-age score: -0.02 (95% CI -0.12, 0.08), no difference between groups.

Experimental

Mayén et al. · Crossref · 6 Aug 2021

Survival

Problem

Loss of parental income and labour-market harm in families after a child is diagnosed with cancer

Intervention: Targeted safety net transfers to families of children with severe illness, studied using a policy reform that changed how generous the transfers were
Population: Danish families of all children diagnosed with cancer, compared with matched unaffected families, using national register data

Key finding

Transfers play a crucial role in smoothing income for affected households.

Practitioner

Adhvaryu et al. · Crossref · 1 Jan 2023

ProtectionSurvival

Problem

Child maltreatment, and uncertainty about how child protection investigations affect child health and family well-being

Intervention: Child protection system investigation following a maltreatment referral, where referrals above a threshold are automatically "defaulted" into investigation
Population: Children in the U.S. referred to the child protection system

Key finding

Reduction in injuries in the two months after referral for children just above the threshold

Experimental

Rittenhouse et al. · Crossref · 1 Jan 2025

DevelopmentSurvival

Problem

Poor early childhood care, stimulation, health and nutrition among children under 3 years in India, including high rates of stunting and wasting.

Intervention: Adding crèche (day-care) services, with child stimulation, feeding and health care, to existing Anganwadi Centres under the ICDS programme in Madhya Pradesh. Crèche workers were newly recruited and trained with technical assistance from IFPRI and the World Bank.
Population: Children aged 6-72 months whose mothers go to work, with a focus on children under 3 years, in Anganwadi Centres in Madhya Pradesh.

Practitioner

World Bank documents and reports · 21 Sept 2018

Survival

Problem

Childhood obesity, and uncertainty about how well community-based prevention programs work for different children.

Intervention: Community-based childhood obesity prevention programs, analysed with a causal machine learning framework (causal discovery, causal inference and tree-based models) to estimate individual treatment effects.
Population: More than 7000 children participating in seven community-based intervention programs.

Key finding

Individual treatment effects suggested notable differences in outcomes across participants.

Practitioner

Hoang et al. · OpenAlex - Early Childhood · 6 Oct 2026

Survival

Problem

Central precocious puberty in girls, and its long-term effects on height, metabolic health, reproductive health and bone density

Intervention: Treatment with gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues (GnRHa)
Population: 82 females who had central precocious puberty or central hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis activation and had received GnRHa (mean age 17.61 years at follow-up)

Key finding

Final height of 159.85 cm did not differ significantly from baseline predicted adult height (mean difference 1.98 cm; 95% CI -0.37 to 4.34).

Pre/post

Khawaja et al. · OpenAlex · 5 Oct 2026

SurvivalDevelopment

Problem

Poverty and socioeconomic deprivation among vulnerable households, including weak human capital outcomes such as school enrolment, health service use and child nutrition

Intervention: Conditional Cash Transfer programme under Nigeria's National Social Investment Programme
Population: 380 beneficiaries of the CCT programme in selected Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Key finding

No significant increase in human capital development (χ² = 2.803, p > 0.05).

Practitioner

Akpan et al. · OpenAlex · 4 Oct 2026

Survival

Problem

Mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B virus in infants born to HBsAg-positive mothers

Intervention: Timely hepatitis B birth dose vaccination (HepB-BD), alone or with hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIg), compared with no immunoprophylaxis at birth
Population: 387 children born to HBV-positive, HIV-negative mothers in Ethiopia who had completed routine HepB3 vaccination, tested at a median age of 10 months

Key finding

Birth dose alone: 0/39 infants infected (0%, 95% CI 0-9.0) versus 20/131 (15.3%, 95% CI 10.1-22.4) with no protection at birth (p = 0.009)

Practitioner

Berhe et al. · OpenAlex · 23 Sept 2026

Survival

Problem

Severe measles illness and measles-related complications in children under 5 years

Intervention: Measles-containing vaccine (at least one dose at or after 9 months of age, documented on the EPI card)
Population: 150 children aged 1–5 years with clinically defined measles at Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Key finding

Prolonged hospital admission: 50.9% (57/112) of unvaccinated vs 26.3% (10/38) of vaccinated children (OR 2.90, 95% CI 1.29–6.53; RR 1.93; p = 0.009).

Practitioner

Khalid et al. · OpenAlex · 30 Sept 2026

Survival

Problem

Poor knowledge of and attitudes toward nutrition among pregnant women, in a setting where chronic energy deficiency, low birth weight and anemia remain prevalent

Intervention: Nutrition education using the Nutrition Snakes and Ladders educational game
Population: 40 pregnant women at Banjarejo Community Health Center

Key finding

Good nutritional knowledge in the intervention group rose to 95.0% after the intervention.

Experimental

Putri et al. · OpenAlex · 29 Sept 2026

Survival

Problem

Limited maternal knowledge of proper breastfeeding practices, which influences exclusive breastfeeding and infant health.

Intervention: Health education for pregnant women using audio-visual media together with a booklet, compared with a booklet alone.
Population: 60 pregnant women at the Letis Community Health Center, East Sumba Regency, Indonesia, selected by total sampling.

Key finding

Knowledge of pregnant women increased after education in both the treatment and control groups.

Experimental

Bunga et al. · OpenAlex · 30 Sept 2026

Survival

Problem

Stunting and poor nutrition knowledge and habits among children in a rural Indonesian community

Intervention: Participatory education sessions on stunting prevention for parents and on balanced nutrition and hygiene for first-grade students
Population: Parents and first-grade primary school students in Melati II Village, Kenari Hamlet, Perbaungan District, Serdang Bedagai Regency, Indonesia

Key finding

Participants responded positively and showed improved understanding, according to the authors.

Practitioner

Kusmilawaty et al. · OpenAlex · 30 Sept 2026

Evidence on children's well-being, problem first.

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Evidence on children's well-being, problem first.