Forms of care that are beneficial
Effectiveness summaries
Pages containing effectiveness summaries classify all interventions evaluated in RHL into six categories based on the degree of their effectiveness as shown below. The purpose of presenting the interventions in this format is to enable readers to determine quickly what the available evidence indicates about each intervention.
Fertility regulation
- Copper-containing, framed intrauterine devices for contraception
- Immediate postpartum insertion for intrauterine devices
- Interventions for emergency contraception
- Medical methods for first trimester abortion
- Repeated use of pre- and postcoital hormonal contraception for prevention of pregnancy
- Scalpel versus no-scalpel incision for vasectomy
- Subdermal implantable contraceptives versus other forms of reversible contraceptives or other implants as effective methods of preventing pregnancy
Gynaecological cancer
- Collection devices for obtaining cervical cytology samples
- Surgery for cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia
HIV
- Antiretrovirals for reducing the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection
- Condom effectiveness in reducing heterosexual HIV transmission
- Efficacy and safety of caesarean delivery for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1
- Male circumcision for prevention of heterosexual acquisition of HIV in men
Improving clinical practice
Maternal health
- Active versus expectant management in the third stage of labour
- Antenatal administration of corticosteroids for women at risk of preterm birth
- Antibiotic prophylaxis for caesarean section
- Antibiotics for asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy
- Antibiotics for syphilis diagnosed during pregnancy
- Anticonvulsant therapy for eclampsia
- Choice of uterotonic agents in the active management of the third stage of labour
- Continuous support for women during childbirth
- Early versus delayed umbilical cord clamping in preterm infants
- Effects and safety of preventive oral iron or iron+folic acid supplementation for women during pregnancy
- External cephalic version for the management of breech presentation
- Induction of labour for improving birth outcomes for women at or beyond term
- Interventions for promoting the initiation of breastfeeding
- Interventions to prevent malaria-related morbidity and mortality in pregnancy
- Intrapartum interventions for preventing shoulder dystocia
- Magnesium sulfate and other anticonvulsants for women with pre-eclampsia
- Magnesium sulfate for women at risk of preterm birth for neuroprotection of the fetus
- Medical treatment for early fetal death (less than 24 weeks)
- Misoprostol for cervical ripening and induction of labour
- Misoprostol for induction of labour to terminate pregnancy in the second or third trimester for women with a fetal anomaly or after intrauterine fetal death
- Optimal duration of exclusive breastfeeding
- Periconceptional supplementation with folate and/or multivitamins for preventing neural tube defects
- Planned caesarean section for term breech delivery
- Spinal versus epidural anaesthesia for caesarean section
- Surgical techniques for caesarean section
Neonatal health
- Cooling for newborns with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy
- Early versus delayed selective surfactant treatment for neonatal respiratory distress syndrome
- Nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) versus nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) for preterm neonates after extubation
- Vaccines for women to prevent neonatal tetanus