About the research centre

CISMAC was established in 2013 to pursue a vision of equitable improvements in maternal, newborn and child health and  development in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The Director of CISMAC is professor Halvor Sommerfelt.

Improving health and survival for mother and children

Nearly 6 million children died before the age of five in low- and middle-income countries in 2015. Approximately 45 %, more than 2.5 million, die within the first month of life, 1 million of these on the first day. In addition, about one million unborn babies and 150 000 women die during childbirth.

The Centre for Intervention Science in Maternal and Child Health (CISMAC) will support research aiming to improve health and survival of mothers and children as well as child development. Projects will target low-income populations in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Intervention studies

CISMAC will perform intervention studies, i.e. studies that estimate the effect of various actions to improve health. An intervention could be for example the delivery of a vaccination programme, guidelines for breastfeeding or nutrition recommendations. Intervention trials addressing maternal, neonatal and child health will be conducted to generate evidence on how to effectively and equitably enhance maternal and child health and child development.

Context and socio-cultural factors

The centre will collect information on health systems and socio-cultural factors in the settings where studies are implemented. This understanding of the context will support planning the scale-up of effective interventions. Assessment of interventions will address their effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and equity.

An international consortium

CISMAC is established as an international consortium, anchored at the Centre for International Health at the University of Bergen in Norway. Research institutions elsewhere in Norway and in Ethiopia, India, Nepal, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia are partners in the consortium, and CISMAC is also supported by the WHO. 

Read more about the CISMAC consortioum

CISMAC has been conceived to be a sustainable consortium and a global leader in the field of maternal, neonatal and child health intervention research.

Education

CISMAC is committed to strengthen capacity, both at the University of Bergen (UiB) as well as in the other partner institutions in Norway, Asia and Africa, to ensure that this consortium is capable of conducting intervention and implementation research on maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) that is cutting-edge and collaborative, even beyond the RCN funding period.

Educational activities to foster competence in intervention and implementation research and to stimulate interaction between researchers across partner institutions and other researchers, include the monthly webinars, the establishment of the CIH-CISMAC research school, and the collaboration with the Bergen Summer Research School.

Strategy

Read more about CISMAC's strategy.

Webinar series 

The CIH-CISMAC Research School holds monthly webinars for researchers where junior and senior scientists discuss topics of their interest. 

Read more about the CISMAC webinar series. 

Annual reports from CISMAC

Find the CISMAC annual reports.

People

Centre manager