The Technical Committee on IMCI Pre-service Training Evaluation was set up by the Regional Office in mid-2005 to develop an instrument to evaluate both the process and outcomes of the introduction of IMCI into pre-service training. To date, over 20 schools in 6 countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Morocco, Pakistan, Sudan and Syrian Arab Republic) have taken steps to incorporate IMCI into their paediatric and community and family teaching programmes, in close collaboration with the Regional Office. Appreciating the importance of providing the evidence base for further expansion of the IMCI pre-service training initiative and strengthening existing efforts, the Regional Office started work to develop the evaluation tool in August 2005.