December 15th, 2014
Earlier this summer, the Preterm Birth Initiative (PTBi) was launched by the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) with a two-day “kickoff” meeting. From June 26th-27th, more than 100 transdisciplinary experts convened to share knowledge, ideas about “what works”, and to develop a roadmap for the initiative’s first year of implementation. Over the first planning year (which is currently underway until June 2015), transdisciplinary working groups will inform the development of a “roadmap” for the initiative’s strategies and management frameworks.
According to a meeting summary prepared by Clear Impact staff, the overall goal of the PTBi is “to reduce the burden of preterm birth” globally through the guiding aims of Discovery, Implementation, and Knowledge Transfer.” Through Discovery, the PTBi aims to improve understanding of the causes and manifestations of preterm birth with the ultimate goal of developing new tools for prediction, prevention, and therapy. Implementation will focus on strategies known to be effective, with the ultimate goal of decreasing the rate of early preterm births through a results-based approach. Finally, Knowledge Transfer will focus on sharing knowledge about preterm birth, as well as developing an accountability framework to facilitate information dissemination.
During the kickoff meeting, participants were introduced to a set of intermediate and long-term outcomes, which included goals like “enhanced antenatal [prenatal or during pregnancy] care quality and coverage” (intermediate outcome) and “increased survival among preterm infants born after 32 weeks” (long-term outcome). In order to achieve outcomes, the PTBi will utilize Results-Based Accountability as its results and evaluation framework.
Strategies for achieving these outcomes—in addition to being guided by the three aims of Discovery, Implementation, and Knowledge Transfer—will be guided by six predetermined “guiding principles” which include: Balance, Transdisciplinary Focus, New Ideas and New Minds, Community Engagement, Collaboration, and a Local/Global Focus (more on each of these guiding principles and their purposes can be found in the meeting summary.
During the kickoff meeting, participants were also introduced to the Results-Based Accountability framework by Clear Impact consultant Deitre Epps (see video below), which will be used by PTBi throughout its ten years of funding to guide the planning and execution of the three aims, as well as to monitor progress and determine how to best achieve measurable impact. The concept of having a “shared language” with clear definitions to be used by all local and global PTBi partners was emphasized as being critical to the aim of transdisciplinary collaboration.
Participants were introduced to the Turn-the-Curve thinking process (see image below) during the meeting, which allowed them to gain further insight into the phenomenon of preterm birth “risk groups”—or groups of women at risk for preterm birth with disparities related to income, health insurance type, ethnicity, healthcare access, and existing health conditions and behaviors. Attendees joined small transdisciplinary breakout sessions in order to apply the Turn-the-Curve exercise for each specific risk category.
Turn-the-Curve thinking process
For example, one group convened on the “Smoking Tobacco” risk group and discussed multidisciplinary causes and impacts of smoking on preterm birth. This helped participants to develop a “Story Behind the Baseline” as well as to discuss possible strategies to address the issue. For example, participants noted that increased stressors like economic hardship and violence could lead to increased smoking of women during pregnancy, indicating that educational strategies need to take a woman-centered rather than just a child-centered approach. Other risk groups that were discussed included Black/ African-American Women, Women of Hispanic Ethnicity, Women that Lack Access to Medical Coverage, Women who Work During Late Pregnancy, and others.
The possibility of creating a research cohort is currently being discussed within the PTBi. During the meeting, Donna Russe—Principal of Donna Russell Consulting, LLC—presented on the use of biobanking and the cohort study. Biobanking allows for the sharing of research data publicly, which may improve collaboration and knowledge dissemination (a key aim of the BTBi). Meeting attendees shared openly about both positive and negative experiences of working with a cohort, which included the concern that women may simply become seen as “specimens.” Countries discussed as possible locations for the creation of cohorts included Kenya, Uganda, and Vietnam. This was followed by discussions concerning the level of community outreach that would be necessary to form such cohorts, including the possibility of sending PTBi members to visit the considered locations before making any decisions.
In addition to the above, presentations concerning the cost-effectiveness of the PTBi and an initiative timeline were provided to meeting participants. According to the meeting summary, from June-July 2014, PTBi was setup (this included the kickoff meeting), deputy directors were chosen, working groups were assembled, and partner outreach took place. Roadmap development is currently in progress, and will take place until January 2015. During the final phase of the planning year (which will take place from February 2015 to June 2015), Requests for Proposals will be issued, responses will be submitted, and proposals will be awarded. During the remainder of the planning year, there will be several ways for individuals to become involved; participants may become involved as a working group member, a collaborator participant, or as a funding recipient.
The PTBi was recently launched by the University of California San Francisco through a $100M, 10-year jointly funded grant by Lynne and Marc Benioff in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
For more information on the PBTi, please visit the UCSF website by clicking here.
