An innovative Community Mobilisation and Community Incentivisation for child health in rural Pakistan (CoMIC): a cluster-randomised, controlled trial

Infectious diseases remain the leading cause of death among children younger than 5 years due to disparities in access and acceptance of essential interventions. The Community Mobilisation and Community Incentivisation (CoMIC) trial was designed to evaluate a customised community mobilisation and incentivisation strategy for improving coverage of evidence-based interventions for child health in Pakistan.BACKGROUNDInfectious diseases remain the leading cause of death among children younger than 5 years due to disparities in access and acceptance of essential interventions. The Community Mobilisation and Community Incentivisation (CoMIC) trial was designed to evaluate a customised community mobilisation and incentivisation strategy for improving coverage of evidence-based interventions for child health in Pakistan.CoMIC was a three-arm cluster-randomised, controlled trial in rural areas of Pakistan. Clusters were formed by grouping villages based on geographical proximity, ethnic consistency, and ensuring a population between 1500 to 3000 per cluster. Clusters were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to either community mobilisation, community mobilisation and incentivisation, or the control arm. Community mobilisation included formation of village committees which conducted awareness activities, while clusters in the community mobilisation and incentivisation group were provided with a novel conditional, collective, community-based incentive (C3I) in addition to community mobilisation. C3I was conditioned on serial incremental targets for collective improvement in coverage at cluster level of three key indicators (primary outcomes): proportion of fully immunised children, use of oral rehydration solution, and sanitation index, assessed at 6 months, 15 months, and 24 months, and village committees decided on non-cash incentives for people in the villages. Data were analysed as intention-to-treat by an independent team masked to study groups. The trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03594279, and is completed.METHODSCoMIC was a three-arm cluster-randomised, controlled trial in rural areas of Pakistan. Clusters were formed by grouping villages based on geographical proximity, ethnic consistency, and ensuring a population between 1500 to 3000 per cluster. Clusters were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to either community mobilisation, community mobilisation and incentivisation, or the control arm. Community mobilisation included formation of village committees which co