Lancet Every Newborn Series

This series of articles, published in the Lancet, focuses on newborn babies, providing estimates of neonatal mortality and stillbirths and reporting on the slow progress in reducing newborn deaths. The series highlights the scale of under-reporting of newborn births and deaths, analyses data on newborn survival for 195 countries and outlines the interventions necessary to save lives. Targets for stillbirths and newborn deaths for post-2015 are outlined in the series and in the Every Newborn Action Plan: for newborn deaths, fewer than ten per 1,000 livebirths, and for stillbirths, fewer than ten per 1,000 total births by 2035.The key findings include:

• 2.9 million newborn babies die from largely preventable causes, and 2.6 million more are stillborn every year
• A third of newborns—over 45 million babies—do not have a birth certificate by their first birthday
• Nearly all of the 6 million stillbirths and newborn deaths that take place each year are never recorded
• Babies who are stillborn, premature, or who die soon after birth are least likely to be registered, even in high-income countries
• High coverage of proven interventions by 2025 could prevent 3 million maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths Most deaths occur around the time of birth

The authors advocate for higher coverage of facility-based care around the time of birth.Proven interventions include:

• Breastfeeding promotion
• Neonatal resuscitation
• Kangaroo mother care for preterm babies
• Antenatal corticosteroids
• Infection prevention and treatment

The cost of implementing these interventions is US$1.15 per person per year. The authors emphasize the triple return on this investment – saving mothers, stillborns and newborns.Findings on MamaYe countries:

• Ethiopia is sixth in the world for the highest burden of neonatal deaths (87, 800)
• Malawi is noted as having made rapid progress in reducing newborn deaths
• Nigeria is second only to India for the highest burden of newborn deaths (267,000)
• Sierra Leone is the riskiest country in the world for newborns, with the highest neonatal mortality rate (49.5 per 1,000 births in 2012)

Articles in the series:

• The first article assesses progress on the integration and implementation of newborn care over the last decade.
• The second article reviews trends in neonatal survival since the last Lancet Series in 2005.
• The third article reviews interventions, models the effect of those interventions and the cost of scale-up.
• The fourth article reports on a systematic assessment of bottlenecks to essential health care for mothers and newborns.
• The fifth article prioritises interventions and mechanisms needed to improve newborn survival, political will and leadership for maternal and newborn health.

To read the articles in the series click here. Free registration is required.The Lancet Every Newborn Study Group. (2014). Every Newborn Series. The Lancet, Published online 20 May.