Objective: To identify important gaps in assessing the equity-effectiveness of health interventions in low and middle income countries, particularly using randomized controlled trials designs and systematic reviews.

Methods: We conducted a workshop with small discussion groups at the International Clinical Epidemiology Network (INCLEN) Global meeting. We also conducted a systematic review of evaluation studies of equity-effectiveness.

Results: The major recommendations from the working groups were to: 1) Consider implementation factors to improve uptake into clinical practice, especially for disadvantaged populations. This includes working with policy-makers, NGO s and all relevant stakeholders; 2) Combine both qualitative (eg ethnographic case studies, focus groups and process evaluation) and quantitative study designs to capture important equity dimensions and be able to explain differences in equity-effectiveness across groups; 3) Recruitment issues are important. For example, the place, time and setting where participants are recruited are important.

Conclusion: These workshop results and literature review have identified gaps and proposed solutions in methods for assessing the impact of interventions on health equity.