Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a leading cause of global mortality, disproportionately affecting low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Physical inactivity, a key contributor to NCDs, is prevalent worldwide despite evidence supporting the health benefits of physical activity (PA). Cities, while often associated with barriers to PA, also present unique opportunities to enhance PA through systemic, context-sensitive interventions or so-called actions. However, evidence on effective city-level PA strategies, particularly in LMICs, remains limited. The CITY based interventions to stimulate active MOVEment for health (CITY-MOVE) project aims to accelerate, support and evaluate the implementation of PA actions at the city level by adapting the WHO Global Action Plan on Physical Activity into locally relevant strategies across six cities worldwide, accompanied by a cross-contextual evaluation framework to ensure transferability and scalability.

This multicase study examines 13 PA actions in six cities (Bogotá, Lima, Kampala, Antwerp, Rotterdam and Ljubljana) across three continents, addressing both early (design and implementation) and late (evaluation) action stages. Early-stage actions employ action research in Living Labs to codesign and implement PA initiatives with local stakeholders, while late-stage interventions focus on retrospective evaluations of implementation outcomes. The framework integrates the Medical Research Council guidance on complex interventions with the Context and Implementation of Complex Interventions. Mixed methods are employed, including document review, interviews, participatory workshops and quantitative analysis of PA and NCD indicators. A cross-contextual Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) framework will synthesise findings to inform scalability and transferability of actions.

Ethics approvals were obtained from local review boards in the participating cities.

Dissemination will occur at three levels: local, regional and global. Locally, findings will be shared with city authorities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and healthcare providers through Living Labs and policy dialogues. At the regional level, knowledge will be spread across cities in Europe, Latin America and East Africa through Communities of Practice and the use of tools like the MCDA framework. Globally, the project will contribute to the scientific community and international organisations such as the WHO and UN-Habitat, by sharing results through open access publications, conferences and global networks to ensure widespread dissemination and sustainability of the project’s impacts.

This study and its outcomes are publicly accessible on OSF (https://osf.io/mn8zd/) and ZENODO (https://zenodo.org/communities/citymove/).

It is unclear whether routine testing of women for group B streptococcus (GBS) colonisation either in late pregnancy or during labour reduces early-onset neonatal sepsis, compared with a risk factor-based strategy.

Cluster randomised trial.

320 000 women from up to 80 hospital maternity units.

Sites will be randomised 1:1 to a routine testing strategy or the risk factor-based strategy, using a web-based minimisation algorithm. A second-level randomisation allocates routine testing sites to either antenatal enriched culture medium testing or intrapartum rapid testing. Intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis will be offered if a test is positive for GBS, or if a maternal risk factor for early-onset GBS infection in her baby is identified before or during labour. Economic and acceptability evaluations will be embedded within the trial design.

The primary outcome is all-cause early (

The trial received a favourable opinion from Derby Research Ethics Committee on 16 September 2019 (19/EM/0253). The allocated testing strategy will be adopted as standard clinical practice by the site. Women in the routine testing sites will give verbal consent for the test. The trial will use routinely collected data retrieved from National Health Service databases, supplemented with limited participant-level collection of process outcomes. Individual written consent will not be sought. The trial results, and parallel economic, qualitative, implementation and methodological results, will be published in the journal Health Technology Assessment.

ISRCTN49639731.