The Two Best Ways to Reduce Infant Mortality
Preventing early childhood death is one of the main objectives of the global-health community. But while huge investments in health-care infrastructure will no doubt be needed to achieve this goal, the highest returns will most likely come from encouraging maternal immunization and breastfeeding.
BANGKOK – One of the more ambitious targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is the commitment to end preventable deaths of newborns and children over the next decade. If this target is met, by 2030 no country will have a neonatal mortality rate above 12 deaths per 1,000 births – a quarter of the current rate in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.