Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG)

Visit the new CHERG website (www.cherg.org).

Overview
The Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG), established in 2001 by the World Health Organization (WHO), is an independent source of technical expertise on child morbidity and mortality estimates at global and country levels. Under the leadership of IIP Director, Dr. Robert Black, the CHERG will expand upon past work and will develop and deploy new and improved evidence on the causes and determinants of maternal, neonatal and child morbidity and mortality, on intervention coverage, and on the effectiveness of interventions to inform and influence global priorities and programs.

  The objectives of this project are to

1. Provide timely estimates of the causes and determinants of child mortality reflecting the effects of accelerated child survival interventions
2. Provide estimates of morbidities and disabilities for important child health conditions
3. Improve knowledge of the causes of maternal mortality
4. Improve knowledge of the extent of maternal morbidities and disabilities
5. Determine the disease burden attributable to selected risk factors for maternal and child morbidity and mortality
6. Develop better information and methodologies to enable prioritizing and monitoring maternal and child health interventions.

The CHERG is both geographically and technically diverse and will continue to expand with the addition of new teams for country-focused work. Faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will remain in key scientific and planning roles and are leading many of the activities within the stated objectives above.  

Collaborating Partners:  WHO, UNICEF, Save the Children/Saving Newborn Lives, The Aga Khan University (Karachi, Pakistan), The University of Edinburgh (Scotland), Harvard School of Public Health, University of Toronto (Canada), Program Consortium on Maternal and Neonatal Health (London England), Nutritional Research Institute (Lima, Peru), University of North Carolina Gillings School of Public Health

Funding Partners: The CHERG is generously funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation via a partnership with the US Fund for UNICEF and receives ongoing financial support from WHO and UNICEF.