Newborns deserve our attention now

Each year, 5.5 million babies enter and leave the world without being recorded and one in three newborns—over 45 million babies—do not have a birth certificate by their first birthday. This is the stark message from the Every Newborn series, published in the Lancet , which I am proud to launch today at the United Nations. I was joined by 55 health experts, from 29 institutions in 18 countries in its development.To me, this symbolises the lack of importance that the world attaches to its newest inhabitants. Its acceptance that we will lose many babies on their first day of life and so it is not worth even counting them.In reality, these deaths are nearly all preventable. Counting and naming every newborn is a statement that we expect that baby to survive and receive the care he or she needs, especially around birth.The Every Newborn Lancet Series identifies all the key evidence about the burden of newborn deaths, under a number of themes:

• Slower progress for newborn survival: If current trends continue, it will be more than 110 years before an African baby has the same chances of survival as a baby born in North America or Europe.
• Prioritising the day of birth to reduce preventable deaths and disabilities: The day of birth is the most dangerous day for women and their babies—resulting in nearly half of maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths. More than three million babies and women could be saved each year through investing in quality care around the time of birth and special care for sick and small newborns.
• Where and when action is needed: South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are the regions with the highest burden of newborn deaths, with India (779,000), Nigeria (267,000), and Pakistan (202,400) leading the ranks among countries. Cost-effective solutions are available now to protect women and children from the most dangerous day of their lives – the day of birth.
• And finally, the Every Newborn Action Plan, which will be reviewed by governments this week at the World Health Assembly, which takes all the evidence collated in the Lancet Series to produce a plan of action we must all take to end these newborns deaths

Action for newborns nowWe know so much about this already. So, when will we take the necessary action? When will we put newborns first?The first step, as so often, is to know the scale of the problem. Why, where and when are our babies dying?But, as so often, the data is poor or absent entirely. The births and deaths of newborns are frequently not recorded. We must put newborns first. Their births and deaths count.The next step is to focus our attention and investment on saving newborn lives.While more babies are surviving than ever before, newborn survival rates have improved at a slower rate than for children under five. Newborn deaths now account for a larger proportion of under-five child deaths—44% in 2012, compared to 36% in 1990.We need governments and donors to prioritise newborns when making commitments in the post-2015 development framework.The Every Newborn Action Plan will be launched next month at the Partners’ Forum in Johannesburg. It will be an unprecedented opportunity to focus the world’s attention on newborns, using the most up to date evidence from this Series.To tell the world that we mean to change the future for these three million babies who would otherwise be lost. To put them first.I urge you to read the plan, to work with your government and health professionals and turn the action plan into an action reality in your country.Professor Joy Lawn is Director of the MARCH Centre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in the UK, and senior adviser to Save the Children.