The role of modeling in evaluation of maternal and child health programs: using the lives saved tool to help answer core evaluation questions.

This paper explains how The Lives Saved Tool (LiST), a computer-based model that estimates the impact of scaling up interventions on stillbirths, maternal, neonatal and child health, can contribute to evaluations of programs being delivered at scale to improve maternal and child health. LiST can be used to estimate the impact of a program in advance, allowing planners to refine, streamline and set appropriate program targets. LiST can also be used to estimate the impact of a program, which is particularly useful given the high costs of measuring changes in population health. Finally, LiST can be used to estimate the relative contributions of different interventions or sets of interventions within programs that are found to have a positive impact. The latest version of LiST allows users to manipulate both utilization and quality of service to generate estimates of effective coverage. In addition, a new, web-based version of LiST is now available, with a simpler and more streamlined interface designed to increase accessibility to beginning users. LiST modeling can help program planners, evaluators and funders respond to core evaluation questions related to program design and impact, providing evidence to support decisions about how best to use available resources to save the lives of women and children.