Table 5.

Network coalitions and issue framing

Network	Nature of coalition	Framing of issue
Tobacco use	Relatively broad: researchers and advocates from high and low-income countries	Cohesive: a public health threat, with industry as the vector of disease
Alcohol harm	Narrow: largely researchers from high-income countries	Contested: public health framing competes with individual behavioural and medical framings
Maternal mortality	Broad: initially insular, evolves into political coalition linking researchers, advocates and politicians from high and low-income countries	Cohesive: an ethical imperative—a matter of women’s rights and equity—that requires urgent action due to slow progress
Neonatal mortality	Narrow: tight core of health-oriented professionals; expansion beyond health sector has been slow	Cohesive but inadequate: essential for achieving MDG 4. But other strong rationales that political leaders might find compelling and urgent have yet to emerge
Tuberculosis	Broad: researchers, advocates and political leaders from high and low-income countries, linked via Stop TB Partnership	Relatively cohesive: a social threat, with DOTS as core strategy to address the disease (although some disagreement on DOTS’ efficacy)
Childhood pneumonia	Narrow and unstable: emerges, dissolves then reappears—a function of shifting ties with broader child survival initiatives and internal differences over interventions	Contested: forceful positioning as ‘leading killer of children’, but historically disagreement over whether it should be a stand-alone issue or integrated into child survival