Cluster randomised controlled trial of the effect of community mobilisation onneonatal survival in Mumbai slums. (360G-Wellcome-081052_Z_06_Z)

Goal: To improve the survival and health of mothers and newborn infants in slum communities in Mumbai, India. Purpose To test an intervention that mobilises communities for better health care, in which local women's groups build an understanding of their potential to improve maternal and infant health and develop and implement strategies to do so. Design A cluster-randomised controlled trial of community mobilisation to achieve improvements in pregnancy, delivery, postpartum and neonatal care. The participatory action research intervention will be introduced in vulnerable areas of slums in six wards of Mumbai. After random allocation of 48 clusters to either intervention or control groups, indicators of effect will be measured through a vital surveillance system implemented by the project. Key distal outcome indicators will be neonatal mortality and maternal and neonatal morbidity. Key proximate outcome indicators will be home care practices, uptake of antenatal, delivery and postnatal care, and care for maternal and neonatal illness.