UNICEF report

Arecent UNICEF report said that very year 2.6 million babies die before turning one month old. One million of them take their first and last breaths on the day they are born. Although, the number of deaths among children under the age of five in the last quarter century has been halved, the world has not made similar progress in ending deaths among children less than one month old. According to the report, babies born in Japan, Iceland and Singapore have the best chance of survival, while newborns in Pakistan, the Central African Republic and Afghanistan face the worst odds. Globally, in low-income countries, the average newborn mortality rate is 27 deaths per 1,000 births. In high-income countries, that rate is 3 deaths per 1,000. Newborns from the riskiest places to give birth are up to 50 times more likely to die than those from the safest places.

The countries with the lowest newborn mortality rates, after Japan, are mostly well-off countries with strong education and health care systems: Iceland (a one in 1,000 chance of death), Singapore (one in 909), Finland (one in 833), Estonia and Slovenia (both one in 769), Cyprus (one in 714) and Belarus, Luxembourg, Norway and South Korea (all with risks of one in 667). More than 80 per cent of newborn deaths are due to prematurity, complications during birth or infections such as pneumonia and sepsis. These deaths can be prevented with access to well-trained midwives, along with proven solutions like clean water, disinfectants, breastfeeding within the first hour, skin-to-skin contact and good nutrition.

The UNICEF report presents a poor picture of Pakistan. It declares Pakistan as the riskiest country for newborns, saying that out of every 1,000 babies born in Pakistan, 46 die before the end of their first month. Pregnant women are much less likely to receive assistance during delivery in Pakistan, where 14 skilled health professionals are available for every 10,000 people. The report points out that the percentage of mothers who give birth in a health facility in Pakistan increased from 21 percent to 48 percent between 2001 and 2013. It also noted the proportion of women giving birth with a skilled attendant during the same period more than doubled from 23 percent to 55 percent. In UNICEF's opinion, despite these remarkable increases, largely the result of rapid urbanization and the proliferation of private sector providers not subject to satisfactory oversight, Pakistan's very high newborn mortality rate fell by less than one quarter, from 60 in 2000 to 46 in 2016.

Civil rights organizations have long called for increasing the health budget in Pakistan, which spends less than one percent of its GDP on health services, as opposed to the World Health Organization benchmark of at least six percent of the GDP to ensure basic and life saving services. After Pakistan, the Central African Republic and war-shattered Afghanistan are the next most dangerous countries for newborns. Poverty, conflict and weak institutions in these countries are cited as primary reasons for the alarming number of newborn deaths.

UNICEF has now launched Every Child ALIVE, a global campaign to demand and deliver solutions on behalf of the world's newborns. Millions of these young lives could be saved every year if every mother and every baby had access to affordable, quality health care, good nutrition and clean water. The report addresses the challenges of keeping every child alive, and calls for strong cooperation among governments, businesses, health-care providers, communities and families to give every newborn a fair chance to survive, and to collectively work towards the achievement of universal health coverage, and a world where no newborn dies of a preventable cause.