A groundbreaking study published in The Lancet Global Health reveals how community-driven incentives can greatly improve child health outcomes in rural Pakistan. The Community Mobilization and Community Incentivization- (CoMIC) trial, conducted by researchers from Aga Khan University’s Institute for Global Health and Development (IGHD), offers a transformative model for addressing preventable illnesses such as childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia, which remain leading causes of death among children under five.

The CoMIC trial is based on the recognition that behaviour change interventions should ensure active community engagement and adapt context-specific strategies to facilitate change (bottom-up approach for sustainable improvement). When tied to tangible short-term collective benefits that address complex child health issues, such an approach may prove particularly useful. The study examined the impact of two interventions: community mobilization alone and mobilization combined with collective, conditional, non-cash incentives. It involved 48 clusters spread over a rural area in Sindh province.