London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

The 14th annual State of the World’s Mothers report was launched today, with a special focus on newborn survival, and particularly ‘surviving the first day’. The report was released by Save the Children and many of the findings are based on analysis conducted by researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

It contains the Birth Day Risk Index – the first global analysis of newborn day-of-death data across 186 countries. The Index estimates that each year more than 1 million babies die on their day of birth.

In the developing world a baby is seven times more likely to die on its first day than in an industrialised nation. Somalia is the most dangerous country to be born in – a baby born there is 40 times more likely to die on its first day than in Luxembourg, which is the safest country.

The report shows that global health inequalities are widening, with 98% of newborn deaths occurring in developing countries. The United States has the highest rate of first day deaths among industrialised nations, with 11,300 first day deaths per year, more than twice the amount for the entire European Union which has 5,800.

Professor Joy Lawn from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine who worked on the report says: “Childbirth is a wonderful moment, but around the world for women and for babies it’s also the riskiest moment, that day is the highest chance of a baby dying in almost every country. This report shows that over 1 million babies die on their first day of life.

“Women have really raised their voice for maternal deaths and maternal rights, but I don’t think we’ve spoken enough also for the rights of our children and especially for newborns. Around the world 3 million newborns are dying in the first month of life – that’s more than HIV deaths and we just don’t hear about it - the attention and noise given to this issue is still small compared to the size of the problem. The immediate thing we need is more workers who are able to be skilled and confident in what they can do for newborns.”

New analysis carried out in part by Professor Lawn shows the lives of over 1 million babies under one month could be saved each year across 75 high mortality countries, by using four simple products. 

The inexpensive and underutilised products are: resuscitation devices to help babies breathe; chlorhexidine to prevent umbilical cord infections; injectable antibiotics to treat newborn sepsis and pneumonia; and corticosteroid injections for women in preterm labour to prevent breathing problems in preterm babies.

The State of the World’s Mothers report also features the annual Mother’s Index, which ranks the best and worst places in the world to be a mother. This year Finland is ranked top, while the Democratic Republic of Congo is highlighted as the most difficult country for mothers. The Index looks at 176 countries around the world and assesses mothers’ well-being based on five indicators: maternal health, under-five mortality, levels of women’s education, income and women’s political representation.

The UK comes 23rd on the list of the best places to be a mother, with higher maternal and infant mortality rates than much of Europe. Reasons for this include the age of women having babies - the UK has a higher proportion of young and old mothers than much of Europe, and poverty inequality – women with partners who are unemployed are six times more likely to die from maternal causes than those with partners in work.