Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40982434›Full record

ArticlePloS one2025

A Delphi process to build consensus on revised Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmONC) signal functions and levels of care.

Sarah G Moxon, Alexandra Wharton-Smith, Sudha Sharma, Jalemba Aluvaala, Oona M R Campbell, Gagan Gupta, Samantha Lobis, Caitlin Warthin, Loveday Penn-Kekana, Lynn P Freedman and 1 more

Abstract readConsensus Statement
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Sarah G MoxonDepartment of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and International Health, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6600-6147
Alexandra Wharton-SmithDepartment of Global Health and Development, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
Sudha SharmaCIWEC Hospital and Travel Medicine Center, Kapurdhara Marg, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Jalemba AluvaalaKEMRI-Wellcome Trust, Nairobi, Kenya.
Oona M R CampbellDepartment of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and International Health, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
Gagan GuptaUNICEF Health Section, UNICEF, New York, New York, United States of Ammerica.
Samantha LobisAverting Maternal Death and Disability (AMDD), Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0006-6302-9427
Caitlin WarthinAverting Maternal Death and Disability (AMDD), Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0334-5421
Loveday Penn-KekanaDepartment of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and International Health, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
Lynn P FreedmanAverting Maternal Death and Disability (AMDD), Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4288-605X
Delphi panel on EmONC signal functions and levels of care

Funding

Gates Foundation INV-001363
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The emergency obstetric care (EmOC) monitoring framework has been used for decades to monitor the availability and use of EmOC services in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). EmOC monitoring is based around eight signal functions, a shortlist of key clinical interventions capable of averting deaths from the main direct causes of maternal mortality, categorised between two levels of care: basic and comprehensive, with a newborn resuscitation signal function added in 2009. The Re-Visioning Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmONC) Project (2020-2024) aimed to update the EmOC approach to reflect new knowledge in maternal and newborn health (MNH), and to expand the scope of the original EmOC monitoring framework. The project used technical workstreams and workshops to arrive at new proposals. This paper reports on the approach used to build consensus on a revised set of EmONC signal functions and levels of care. Using a three-round online Delphi approach, consensus (≥85%) was sought from a diverse panel of global MNH experts on EmONC signal functions and their placement at different levels of care, based on existing evidence-based guidelines. The process was iterative, each round building on the previous, and embedded in the wider Re-Visioning EmONC project; the output from each round involved coordination of inputs from multiple tiers of technical experts, including UN agencies, via technical expert groups, workstreams and workshops. The Delphi study recruited 113 experts in MNH from a range of geographic and economic settings, specialities and professions, including clinical, academic and programme expertise. The output from the three rounds included substantial convergence, resulting in set of 25 signal functions (11 obstetric, 13 neonatal and 1 referral) that reflect the spectrum of EmONC required for women and newborns. The revised EmONC signal functions are intended as a simple approach to allow health system managers to visualise their EmONC services, and as a means to hold health systems accountable to provide the main interventions to avert preventable maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality, and stillbirths.

Indexed as

Emergency Medical ServicesDelphi TechniqueFemaleHumansInfant, NewbornMaternal MortalityPregnancy

Identifiers

PMID40982434
PMCPMC12453252

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.