The child health epidemiology reference group reviews of the effectiveness of interventions to reduce maternal, neonatal and child mortality

Abstract
This article consists of a short introduction to the reviews presented in this series. It focuses on the contribution of the work of the Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG) to the Lives Saved Tool (LiST) through the development of estimates of key inputs to the model. These include previously estimated country-specific distribution of the main causes of under-5 deaths and of the proportion of these deaths that can be averted by specific interventions (affected fraction), along with the newly estimated efficacy/effectiveness of child survival interventions that are presented in detail in individual papers in this volume. This series reflects our efforts to make all data, materials and methods used in the estimation of parameters fully available and transparent.