Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Apr 13;11 Suppl 3(Suppl 3):S32.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-S3-S32.

Methods used in the Lives Saved Tool (LiST)

William Winfrey  1 , Robert McKinnon, John Stover
Affiliations

Methods used in the Lives Saved Tool (LiST)

William Winfrey et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Choosing an optimum set of child health interventions for maximum mortality impact is important within resource poor policy environments. The Lives Saved Tool (LiST) is a computer model that estimates the mortality and stillbirth impact of scaling up proven maternal and child health interventions. This paper will describe the methods used to estimate the impact of scaling up interventions on neonatal and child mortality.

Model structure and assumptions: LiST estimates mortality impact via five age bands 0 months, 1-5 months, 6-11 months, 12-23 months and 24 to 59 months. For each of these age bands reductions in cause specific mortality are estimated. Nutrition interventions can impact either nutritional statuses or directly impact mortality. In the former case, LiST acts as a cohort model where current nutritional statuses such as stunting impact the probability of stunting as the cohort ages. LiST links with a demographic projections model (DemProj) to estimate the deaths and deaths averted due to the reductions in mortality rates.

Using list: LiST can be downloaded at http://www.jhsph.edu/dept/ih/IIP/list/ where simple instructions are available for installation. LiST includes default values for coverage and effectiveness for many less developed countries obtained from credible sources.

Conclusions: The development of LiST is a continuing process. Via technical inputs from the Child Health Epidemiological Group, effectiveness values are updated, interventions are adopted and new features added.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
LiST calculation of postneonatal diarrhoea deaths in children aged 1 month to 59 months
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic of the process behind the calculation of stunting
Figure 3
Figure 3
Illustration of the calculation of the percent of children who are < -3 SD, -3 to <-2 SD, -2 to -1 SDs and above -1 SDs for height to age relative to international standard
Figure 4
Figure 4
LiST calculation of mortality reduction due to scaling up multiple micronutrient supplementation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Stover J, McKinnon R, Winfrey B. Spectrum: a model platform for linking maternal and child survival interventions with AIDS, family planning and demographic projections. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2010;39:i7–i10. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyq016. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jones G, Steketee R, Black RE, Bhutta Z, Morris S. How many children deaths can we prevent this year? Lancet. 2003;362:65–71. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(03)13811-1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Darmstadt GL, Bhutta ZA, Cousens S, Adam T, Walker N, de Bernis L. Evidence-based, cost-effective interventions: how many newborns can we save and at what cost? Lancet. 2005;365:977–988. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)71088-6. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bhutta ZA, Ahmed T, Black RE, Cousens S, Dewey K, Giugliani E. et al.What works? Interventions for maternal and child undernutrition and survival. Lancet. 2008;372:972–989. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61407-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Boschi-Pinto C, Young M, Black RE. The Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group reviews of the effectiveness of interventions to reduce maternal, neonatal and child mortality. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2010;39:i3–i6. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyq018. - DOI - PMC - PubMed