Report: A Decade of Change for Newborn Survival

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Credit: Save the Children

A report by Save the Children's Saving Newborn Lives programme takes a close look at newborn survival rates over the last decade. After three years of analysis, a team of more than 150 authors and contributors, concluded that global funding overlooked a key area for preventing child deaths - newborn care.
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Credit: Save the Children

Child deaths have dipped dramatically, from 9.6 million deaths in 2000 to 7.6 million in 2010. But newborn mortality rates are dropping 30 percent more slowly than those of children under 5. Eight of the 10 countries with the highest infant mortality rates are African.
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Credit: World Health Organization

The darker the shade of blue, the higher the infant mortality rate. Four African countries - Somalia, Mali, DR Congo and Sierra Leone - have neonatal mortality rates that exceed 45 percent (in navy).
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Credit: Save the Children

Newborns (infants in their first month of life) accounted for more than 40 percent of child deaths in 2010. Worldwide 3.6 million newborns died in 2000 and 3.1 million died in 2010. Preterm birth complications are the leading cause of neonatal deaths, resulting in 1,078,000 deaths in 2010.
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Credit: Save the Children

Two million fewer children under the age of 5 died in 2010 than in 2000. This includes 609,000 fewer deaths by diarrhea, measles, injury, malaria, Aids, meningitis and pneumonia (in green). But neonatal deaths (in blue) continue to slow the progress of preventing child death. Preterm birth complications dropped only 2 percent annually during the same period. Deaths by severe infections and intrapartum-related complications declined by less than 3 percent, each.
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Credit: Save the Children

Nearly a third of sub-Saharan African women who gave birth at home did not have a birth attendant present. African families have the highest risk of newborn deaths. At the current rate of progress, it would take 150 years for newborn death rates to match those in the U.S. and Europe.

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