The U.S. National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council—collectively the U.S. National Academies (NAS)—are private, nonprofit institutions that advise the federal government and public on matters of science, technology, and health by establishing committees of experts to address critical technical and policy issues. Throughout a given year, the Academies convene hundreds of conferences, workshops, symposia, and standing committees, which attract the finest minds in academia and the public and private sectors. The National Academies has long-standing relationships with over a hundred foreign scientific academies including those in developing countries. The Division of Policy and Global Affairs at the National Academies has managed several grant research programs including the Pakistan-US S&T Cooperation Program, and the PEER Science program. The programmatic and scientific expertise resident at the National Academies make this organization an ideal convener for interagency collaboration around research.

 

Worldwide, under-five mortality has declined from more than 12 million deaths in 1990 to 6.9 million in 2011, yet thousands of children still die every day from preventable diseases. On June 14-15, 2012, the Governments of Ethiopia, India, and the United States, together with UNICEF, convened the Child Survival Call to Action Summit, mobilizing the world toward one ambitious but simple goal – ending preventable child deaths. Eighty percent of under-five deaths occur in 24 countries. More than 160 countries have signed A Promise Renewed, a pledge to work toward greater child survival.

 

Accelerating reduction of under-five mortality rates will require implementing innovative country-owned, evidence-based global health and child survival programs that deliver lifesaving interventions and services. In many countries there is an unmet need for implementation science research to inform approaches and investments for public health programming and policymaking. To maximize public health impact, significant progress is needed to deliver interventions more efficiently and effectively, transfer interventions from one setting or population to another, scale interventions to population level impact, and to make better-informed choices between competing interventions. This gap between research and implementation is impeding success in prevention, care, and treatment programs. Implementation science is intended to facilitate evidence-based decision-making that can inform policy, practice, and improve health outcomes through the delivery of cost-effective programs. High impact implementation science research may require partnerships with and leveraging of in-country implementers and USAID Missions, government agencies, the private sector, and UN partners.