Global Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health — So Near and Yet So Far

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 369; no. 23; pp. 2226 - 2235
• Main Authors: Bhutta, Zulfiqar A, Black, Robert E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Waltham, MA Massachusetts Medical Society 05.12.2013
• Series: Global Health
• Subjects: Age; Biological and medical sciences; Cause of Death; Child; Child Mortality - trends; Child Welfare; Child, Preschool; Children; Childrens health; Evidence-Based Medicine; Female; General aspects; Global Health; Healthcare Disparities; Humans; Infant; Infant mortality; Infant Mortality - trends; Infant Welfare; Infant, Newborn; Maternal Mortality - trends; Maternal Welfare; Medical sciences; Pregnancy; Premature birth; Stillbirth - epidemiology; South Asia; Human; Medicine; Newborn; Child
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra1111853

This article in the Global Health series assesses international progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals for the health of women and children. With less than 3 years to go, many countries are failing to reach targets set for maternal and child mortality. A little more than 13 years ago, world leaders assembled in New York to sign the Millennium Declaration to address some of the greatest moral dilemmas of our times — unequal global health, poverty, and inequities in development — and to establish a set of interrelated goals and targets to be met by 2015. Key goals included the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 targeting a reduction in mortality among children younger than 5 years of age by two thirds and MDG 5 targeting a reduction in maternal mortality by three quarters, both from 1990 base figures. With less than 3 . . .