Newborn deaths account for 45% of deaths among children under the age of five globally, resulting in 2.7 million lives lost each year. In addition, 2.6 million babies die in the last 3 months of pregnancy or during childbirth (stillbirths) and 303,000 maternal deaths occur each year.

We have the knowledge and tools to prevent at least two-thirds of these deaths. The global Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP), launched in 2014, provides a road map of strategic actions for ending preventable newborn mortality and stillbirth and contributing to reducing maternal mortality and morbidity.

The Every Newborn Action Plan presents evidence-based solutions to prevent newborn deaths and stillbirths. It sets out a clear path to 2020 with specific global and national milestones. The plan was based on evidence presented in The Lancet Every Newborn series, and developed within the Every Woman Every Child framework.

Endorsement by 194 Member States in 2014

In 2014, 194 Member States of the Sixty-seventh World Health Assembly endorsed the action plan (Resolution WHA 67.10). Led by UNICEF and the World Health Organization, ENAP was guided by the advice of experts and partners and by multistakeholder consultations and a web-based consultation with over 300 comments from stakeholders. The WHO Director-General has been requested to monitor progress towards the achievement of the global goal and targets, reporting periodically to the World Health Assembly until 2030.

Every Newborn progress report

One year after the Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) was endorsed at the 67th World Health Assembly, 15 of 18 low-resource countries identified as having the highest newborn mortality rates took action to improve maternal and newborn care around the time of birth and to save lives. At least four countries – Ghana, India, Indonesia and Pakistan – finalized national newborn action plans and an additional six countries – Namibia, Philippines, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia – improved their health programs to save the lives of women and newborns. Additional countries, including Bangladesh, Botswana, Malawi, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal and Nigeria, were in the process of developing their own national newborn action plans, and others, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar and Nepal were refining existing plans to include strategies to save newborns.