Jean-Pierre Habicht

TL;DR: There is an urgent need to develop evaluation standards and protocols for use in circumstances where RCTs are not appropriate, and both the internal and external validity of RCT findings can be greatly enhanced by observational studies using adequacy or plausibility designs.

TL;DR: The World Health Organization convened an Expert Committee to reevaluate the use of anthropometry at different ages for assessing health, nutrition, and social wellbeing, and noted that few normative anthropometric data exist for the elderly, especially for those > 80 y of age.

TL;DR: Equity must be a priority in the design of child survival interventions and delivery strategies, and mechanisms to ensure accountability at national and international levels must be developed.

TL;DR: Estimating the percentage of child deaths which could be attributed to the potentiating effects of malnutrition in infectious disease shows that malnutrition has a far more powerful impact on child mortality than is generally appreciated, and suggests that strategies involving only the screening and treatment of the severely malnourished will do little to address this impact.

TL;DR: It is argued that the answer to this question is essential for choosing an appropriate evaluation design, drawing upon examples from the fields of health and nutrition, and a framework is proposed for deciding upon appropriate evaluation designs.