Systematic reviews of public health in developing countries are in train

Editor—The Cochrane Collaboration's health promotion and public health field, in collaboration with an international taskforce comprising the World Health Organization, the Global Health Council, the International Union for Health Promotion and Education, the South African Medical Research Council, the Burnet Institute for International and Public Health, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has recently completed a study to make recommendations for priority systematic reviews of public health topics of global importance and of particular relevance to developing countries.¹

We identified nearly 400 published public health systematic reviews and mapped these against WHO's World Health Report 2002 to identify gaps in the evidence base. The taskforce nominated topics of importance to global decisions, in light of existing reviews.

The criteria for priority selection were burden of disease, magnitude of problem, urgency; importance to developing countries; avoidance of duplication; and opportunity for action.

Twenty six recommendations for priority systematic reviews have been made. Examples include:

• Community building interventions to improve physical, social, and mental health

• Interventions that use a combination of environmental, social, and educational strategies to prevent infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and diarrhoea

• Non-testing dependant prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV

• Interventions to enhance compliance with regulations of waterworks systems that supply potable water.

Active dissemination to global policy-making organisations and potential reviewers seeking topics has started. The research is currently in press—please contact cochrane@vichealth.vic.gov.au for further information.