Maternal, neonatal and child health interventions and services: moving from knowledge of what works to systems that deliver

Based on a review of the literature and the experience of researchers belonging to the UK Department of International Development's research programme consortium on maternal health, this paper discusses the implications of these tensions for MNCH advocates, policy makers and planners, and makes three sets of recommendations. Two key messages are the need for more harmonisation between the MNCH and health systems development agendas and greater recognition of the limitations of universal 'gold standard' evidence in informing policy development and implementation.