Cochrane is piloting two evidence gap maps in 2025 to map primary research and systematic reviews in two urgent areas of global health: dengue prevention and neonatal mortality reduction.
Global health faces unprecedented challenges, from the rising burden of infectious diseases and chronic conditions to the impacts of climate change on health systems. Our scientific strategy 2025-2030, launched in November 2024, responds to these challenges by prioritizing timely, high-quality evidence to support global decision-making.
As part of our commitment to deliver impactful, locally relevant solutions, we are developing two living evidence gap maps focused on key research priorities of the scientific strategy: reducing transmission of dengue and improving neonatal health outcomes.
Evidence gap maps are a powerful tool for synthesizing and visualizing the landscape of existing research in a particular field. By synthesizing the evidence, they reveal both strengths and gaps in the current evidence base, allowing policymakers, researchers, and funders to make data-driven decisions on health outcomes. Interactive maps further support decision-making by providing access to details about individual studies.
Building locally informed, globally relevant evidence gap maps
The pilots will develop living evidence gap maps that are aligned with current global standards. We will directly involve policymakers and civil society representatives in regions affected by the two health challenges to ensure that the maps and the evidence they identify are applicable to local settings.
One pilot, conducted in Brazil, will focus on mapping research to support dengue prevention strategies. The project is supported by Leslie Choi, Anna Noel-Storr, Roses Parker and Susi Wisniewski from Cochrane in collaboration with Brazilian Coalition for Evidence, Instituto Veredas, and O Centro de Inteligência em Agravos Tropicais Emergentes e Negligenciados (CIATEN)
The other pilot, supported by Cochrane India, will map evidence on postnatal interventions aimed at preventing neonatal infections in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
"By working directly with local policymakers and communities, we’re ensuring that the evidence we map reflects real-world priorities. This work embodies our scientific strategy in action: delivering timely, high-quality evidence that’s relevant where it matters most,” said Dr Karla Soares-Weiser, Acting CEO at Cochrane. “With these living gap maps, we’re showing that Cochrane can innovate beyond traditional review formats, respond rapidly, and deliver meaningful outputs within tight timeframes."
Each pilot aims to equip national policymakers with tailored gap maps that align with health priorities and serve to identify critical knowledge gaps to inform future primary research and systematic reviews at the local level. They will also test and refine a template model for producing living evidence gap maps to support priority setting, providing a replicable process that can be adapted across other health challenges and settings.
Dengue prevention in Brazil
Dengue is one of the most rapidly spreading infectious diseases in the world due to climate change. With Brazil reporting some of the highest dengue case numbers globally, the disease disproportionately impacts vulnerable communities across South America. The pilot aims to support more targeted, climate-sensitive responses through evidence-informed policymaking. It also seeks to establish a replicable model for addressing other vector-borne diseases.
In its early stages, the project conducted community engagement activities, including interviews and surveys, to develop a preliminary framework of populations, interventions, and outcomes based on local priorities. Governments, researchers, healthcare professionals and policymakers will be invited to participate in structured dialogues, where the gap map will be presented for feedback, ensuring an integrated and iterative approach.
Preventing neonatal infections in LMICs
Newborn mortality remains a pressing healthcare challenge, particularly in LMICs. In 2020 alone, neonatal mortality accounted for nearly half of all deaths in children under 5 years of age, with 2.4 million neonatal deaths documented globally (WHO, 2024). In particular, neonatal infection caused by sepsis, pneumonia, omphalitis pose a significant risk to newborns. The identification, prevention and management of these infections are critical in ensuring the health and survival of infants during the first 28 days of life.
This pilot project will focus on interventions for preventing neonatal infections. The resulting evidence framework will be made accessible through an interactive gap map, offering governments, policymakers, healthcare professionals, and researchers a comprehensive view of intervention strategies, evidence quality, and implementation contexts related to neonatal care in LMICs.
What are the next steps in the project?
In the next months, we will conduct the searches and start screening the results. With a combination of machine learning approaches and the amazing Cochrane Crowd community we hope to vastly reduce the screening burden on the authors. We hope that these mechanisms will enable these maps to be living repositories updated feasibly with the use of AI and Cochrane Crowd.
The first evidence gap map on dengue is expected to be produced in late 2025 and published early 2026, with the neonatal gap map following soon after. These gap maps will support strategic decision-making by identifying high-priority topics and areas for new or updated reviews in the coming years.