Survival convergence: bringing maternal and newborn health together for 2015 and beyond

Although global attention to newborn health began in 2000 with the launch of the Saving Newborn Lives initiative, 2 and accelerated with the publication of the Lancet Series on Neonatal Survival in 2005, reductions in neonatal mortality lagged behind maternal and under-5 mortality. Worldwide, 44% of deaths in children younger than 5 years now occur in the first month of life, a huge and highly inequitable burden.