WUNRN
The Lancet Series of Documents
on Newborn Survival:
|
©
UNICEF/NYHQ2012-2266/SUSAN MARKISZ |
1-day-old
Sebastian is held by his father in the maternity ward at |
TORONTO, 29
May 2014 - Every minute, 10 babies die or are stillborn across the world, a
staggering 5.5 million lives ended every year just as they start. The
majority of those deaths are from preventable causes, including prematurity,
childbirth complications and newborn infections.
While child
death rates have been reduced by almost half since 1990, newborn mortality has
increased as a proportion of overall of child mortality, as highlighted by
papers published
in The Lancet earlier
this month.
“We are succeeding
in rapidly reducing child mortality because we have made it a global priority,
with a commitment to innovation, partnership, and equity,” said UNICEF
Executive Director Anthony Lake. “We need the same global
commitment, and the same political will, to reduce newborn mortality — working
together to find new ways of reaching every family."
Poorer
families bear the greatest burden of newborn deaths. If current trends
continue, it will take over a century before a baby in the Central African
Republic has the same chances of survival as a baby born in Canada.
Lake hailed
Canada’s leadership in galvanizing global support to reduce maternal, newborn
and child mortality. The Toronto Summit will explore the most effective
ways to speed up progress on newborn, child and health.
Improving
newborn and child health also depends on better accountability — and more
thorough accounting.
In 2012
alone, around two out of five births worldwide were not registered. Around the
world, nearly 230 million children under age five have never been recorded –
meaning they do not have the legal identity they need to access health,
education and other services. And the numbers will rise unless action is taken.
But
increasing the number of children registered at birth enables governments to
improve the planning and budgeting of life-saving interventions, and to summon
the political will and civil society support that is needed to meet targets.
“This year
we will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child. Millions of children are still being deprived of the most precious
right — the right to survive,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony
Lake. “We must reach every family, every woman, every child, and every
newborn.”