Thanks for this feedback! This is exactly why I posted, so before I provide any specific responses to your points, please know that I appreciate all of the questions and suggestions and I’m already thinking of how they could be addressed in a future version of this proposal.
1. I appreciate your point that the key step in the theory of change is not clear—and I think this is not due to a gap in the data itself but instead due to a gap in my presentation of the evidence. The key supporting evidence is linked out from this statement:
My analysis of existing research studies shows that training HWs to properly care for newborn babies is likely to be highly cost-effective, with an average cost of $59 per DALY averted ($100 per DALY averted is sometimes cited as a benchmark for highly effective interventions)....
The linked post cites six studies that show reductions in mortality due to HW training. While there are remaining reasons for skepticism, I think these six studies support this key step in the theory of change, at least for some types of training. Regarding your sub-points on point (1), I accept the feedback that we can and should provide more detail on the evaluation in a future version of this. The six studies provide pretty clear guidance on the type of data we would collect.
2. I agree that a roadmap of regions / countries / priority courses would be helpful to include and can add this to a future version. Thanks for the suggestion. We’d want to start with topics that have the strongest existing evidence base (such as neonatal care and management of childhood illness).
3. The dollar amount may seem high, but this is a technology development project. I think it will be very difficult to build a truly excellent learning platform that is tailored to this target audience without attracting top engineering talent, and that gets expensive. As I mentioned in the post, we’ve already done substantial piloting on a shoestring and I plan to continue to do that! I’ll think further about whether we can present a tiered approach, with additional pilots done with an MVP.
I missed that link! Thanks for flagging. I think when I read that, it wasn’t clear to me that this study had explicit examples of reduction in mortality. I’ll edit my first comment so that people know it was included.
That makes sense, and I think it could make a big difference to e.g. potential funders reading this to be more clear.
I think the thing I would see as most important is demonstrating that your specific implementation of the solution results in deaths averted, and this could be done for a lower cost. At that point, if there is evidence, it makes sense to scale up / professionalize the platform.
Thanks for this feedback! This is exactly why I posted, so before I provide any specific responses to your points, please know that I appreciate all of the questions and suggestions and I’m already thinking of how they could be addressed in a future version of this proposal.
1. I appreciate your point that the key step in the theory of change is not clear—and I think this is not due to a gap in the data itself but instead due to a gap in my presentation of the evidence. The key supporting evidence is linked out from this statement:
The linked post cites six studies that show reductions in mortality due to HW training. While there are remaining reasons for skepticism, I think these six studies support this key step in the theory of change, at least for some types of training. Regarding your sub-points on point (1), I accept the feedback that we can and should provide more detail on the evaluation in a future version of this. The six studies provide pretty clear guidance on the type of data we would collect.
2. I agree that a roadmap of regions / countries / priority courses would be helpful to include and can add this to a future version. Thanks for the suggestion. We’d want to start with topics that have the strongest existing evidence base (such as neonatal care and management of childhood illness).
3. The dollar amount may seem high, but this is a technology development project. I think it will be very difficult to build a truly excellent learning platform that is tailored to this target audience without attracting top engineering talent, and that gets expensive. As I mentioned in the post, we’ve already done substantial piloting on a shoestring and I plan to continue to do that! I’ll think further about whether we can present a tiered approach, with additional pilots done with an MVP.
Thanks for responding!
I missed that link! Thanks for flagging. I think when I read that, it wasn’t clear to me that this study had explicit examples of reduction in mortality. I’ll edit my first comment so that people know it was included.
That makes sense, and I think it could make a big difference to e.g. potential funders reading this to be more clear.
I think the thing I would see as most important is demonstrating that your specific implementation of the solution results in deaths averted, and this could be done for a lower cost. At that point, if there is evidence, it makes sense to scale up / professionalize the platform.