Welcome to the heart of the Healthy Newborn Network (HNN), where our commitment to newborn health drives everything we do. Established as an online knowledge platform, HNN is dedicated to identifying, curating, and disseminating critical evidence and insights on the health and well-being of newborns and the families and communities that care for them.
About
Our Mission is Newborn Health
Of the estimated 2.3 million newborn deaths in 2022, almost 75 percent died in the first week of life. In 2019, almost a million newborn deaths occurred on the first day of life.
View All DataAn additional estimated 1.9 million stillbirths occur annually. The majority of deaths and stillbirths occur in low-resource settings, and most are preventable with proven and effective interventions.
93.7
adolescent birth rate-least developed countries
1 in 210
adult lifetime risk of maternal death globally
2.1%
average global maternal mortality reduction
47%
under-five deaths that are newborns globally
Unveiling Newborn and Maternal Health: Insights, Experts, and Solutions
Dive into the heart of newborn and maternal health. Explore critical issues, access the latest global data, and understand the interconnected ways a newborn and mother are impacted, all in one place. Go beyond information and journey towards understanding, empathy, and action for the well-being of newborns and mothers around the world.
Global Health Leadership, Expertise, and Guidance
Save the Children has long been a leader in global health – we continue to bring our decades of maternal and newborn health expertise to develop HNN as a key knowledge platform for the global health community. Save the Children has been silently steering HNN as lead on the Saving Newborn Lives program since HNN’s inception in 2010; when the Saving Newborn Lives program ended in 2020, Save the Children stepped up to take full ownership, continuing to be a prominent voice for newborns and mothers globally.
HNN connects people working on ensuring the health and well-being of newborns and the families and communities that care for them to key resources, data, experiences, and lessons in an accessible, context-specific manner. It also provides a digital space to distill and disseminate local, regional, and global experiences to a professional audience.
Our Core Values
Guided by Evidence, United in Action
At HNN, we unite under a commitment to collaboration, a dedication to knowledge sharing, and a responsibility towards global advocacy for newborn and maternal well-being, driving impactful change in the landscape of newborn health.
Commitment to Collaboration
HNN values collaborative efforts, recognizing that impactful change requires the collective expertise and lived experiences of individuals, organizations, and communities worldwide.
Dedication to Knowledge Sharing
HNN is dedicated to fostering an accessible environment of continuous learning and knowledge exchange. We believe in the power of shared insights, evidence-based practices, and innovative ideas to drive advancements in newborn health.
Global Advocates for Newborns
HNN is a recognized global knowledge platform that supports advocacy efforts that advance newborn health. We commit to ensuring HNN remains a strong tool for our community, to raise awareness, influence policies, and mobilize support using evidence-based knowledge and data, ensuring that every newborn has the opportunity for a healthy and thriving start in life.
Leaders in Newborn Health
Meet our Experts
Discover the unparalleled credibility and leadership embodied by the experts who help curate our content and ensure our technical accuracy in the field of newborn health.
Dr. Steve Wall
Lead Advisor, Newborn Health
Dr. Steve Wall is a pediatrician, neonatologist, and public health expert with over 20 years’ experience in global health at Save the Children. He trained in Pediatrics and Neonatology at University of California, San Francisco and Harvard, where he also received a Master of Science degree in Epidemiology. Prior to joining Save the Children, Dr. Wall was on the Faculty of Pediatrics at the University of Chicago and worked as an Attending Neonatologist at the University Children’s Hospital. Dr. Wall is recognized as a global technical expert and has served on expert panels for WHO in developing global guidelines for many areas of newborn health. He has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications as well as a number of global reports and publications such as Born Too Soon, and the KMC Global Positioning Paper and KMC Implementation Framework Paper.
Dr. Goldy Mazia
Lead Advisor, Newborn Health
Dr. Mazia has over 30 years of experience in the health care field as a provider and administration in Colombia, South America, and the Negev desert of Israel; and 14 years as a public health practitioner and global technical leader in the field of child health, with a specific focus on newborn health. Her parents are Holocaust survivors from Poland and arrived in Colombia as refugees in 1947 where they began their family and raised three children. She has a medical degree from Rosario University Bogota, specialized training in neonatology from Soroka Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Mazia is fluent in Spanish, English, and Hebrew, and has basic in French and Portuguese language skills.
Dr. Neena Khadka Basnet
Lead Advisor, Newborn Health
Dr. Neena Khadka Basnet, a pediatrician with over 30 years of experience in clinical and public health practices, began her career in 1987 with the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) in Nepal. She practiced pediatrics and neonatology clinically for fifteen years in tertiary and zonal hospitals in the country. During her tenure with the MoHP, she also served for three years as the in-charge of national child health training activities in the government’s National Health Training Center. Dr. Khadka Basnet joined Save the Children in 2001 on the Saving Newborn Lives Program-I. During her tenure with Save the Children in Nepal, Neena also led the Community Health Service Delivery team for the USAID bilateral program in Nepal. In 2013 she became a member of the Save the Children USA team and served as the Team Lead for Newborn Health for USAID’s Maternal and Child Survival Program. Dr. Khadka Basnet is currently the Lead Newborn Advisor at Save the Children USA and the Newborn Health Focal Point for USAID’s MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership Program. She holds M.B.,B.S., Diploma in Child Health, M.A. in Social Science Research and MPH from various universities in Asia.
Hilary Wartinger, MPH
Senior Advisor for Knowledge Management
Hilary Wartinger, MPH (she/her) leads the management team behind HNN, providing strategic direction and content oversight. She previously worked for the Women’s Refugee Commission as a Sexual and Reproductive Health advisor, where she focused on reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, adolescent health and nutrition programming in conflict settings. Her work in humanitarian settings brought her to Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Somalia, where she developed pilot testing protocols for the Newborn Health in Humanitarian Settings Field Guide. Additionally, Hilary has led content development for a New York-based non-profit’s website. Hilary is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, serving three years in Eswatini before earning a Master’s in Public Health from Columbia University, alongside her degrees in Journalism and International Relations from Boston University.
Our Story
The History of HNN
The History of HNN chronicles the evolution of the global community’s commitment to newborn health, highlighting key milestones, collaborative efforts, and the ongoing pursuit of knowledge and positive impact.
1999
Evidence emerges of neonatal deaths being reduced through home-based care provided by community health workers.
2000
The Saving Newborn Lives (SNL) program is born. The first program of it’s kind, it elevated newborn health and generated a movement that would span decades.
2010
Healthy Newborn Network (HNN) launched – the first online platform dedicated to newborn health
2014
Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) passed as a resolution at the World Health Assembly
2015
1st Global Maternal Newborn Health Conference; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include a target to end newborn deaths
2020
SNL program ends, international community discusses priorities for the future
2021
Save the Children takes full ownership of HNN
2024
HNN launches redesigned website, incorporating the full spectrum of issues that impact newborn and maternal health and well-being
Newborn Health Programs
HNN is proud to elevate global programs that have had a lasting impact on newborn health. These are just a selection of programs operated by Save the Children and other partners; others can be found in our resource library.
Saving Newborn Lives Legacy
Beginning in 2000, Saving Newborn Lives (SNL) was the first newborn health program of its kind, elevating the contribution of Save the Children and its partners in this area.
View ProjectUSAID Kulawa
USAID Kulawa is the USAID Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced II (RISE II) Health Services Delivery activity in Niger (2020-2025), which works to improve access to and use of quality health services, strengthening ownership and management by communities, local government, and service providers. USAID Kulawa—meaning “to care for” in Hausa—strives to close the equity gap (the difference in abilities to access services) in maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH), family planning/ reproductive health (FP/RH), and nutrition service access and use, including for adolescents and youth.
View ProjectSaving Women and Preterm Babies (SWAP)
The Saving Women and Preterm Babies (SWAP) Project in Bangladesh and Uganda aims to increase the survival of small and sick newborns, as well as prevent and manage specific maternal health conditions which can result in mortality for pregnant women and result in preterm births. In both countries, SWAP utilizes innovative technologies, including the Vayu Bubble Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine and cutting-edge clinical decision-making tools (e.g., PRISMS in Uganda), as well as trainings and mentorships, to improve care for small, sick, and preterm newborns in health facilities. Trainings, mentorships, and quality improvement initiatives are also implemented in project facilities for the improvement of maternal health care, such as the identification and treatment of preeclampsia/eclampsia and postpartum hemorrhage. Finally, SWAP uses other technologies, such as NeoNatalie Live, and new packages, like Family-Centered Care (Bangladesh), to enhance trainings for health care providers. Overall, the SWAP project draws from the latest evidence and technology to save maternal and newborn lives.
View ProjectMOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership
MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership (2019-2026) is part of a suite of awards funded by USAID which increase the capacity of partner institutions and local organizations to deliver quality, evidence-based maternal, newborn, and child health services, voluntary family planning, and reproductive health care in USAID partner countries. As a key consortium partner, Save the Children contributes to the overall aim of the program to holistically improve family planning and maternal, newborn, and child health in partner countries around the world. The project focuses on technical and capacity development assistance to ministries of health and other country partners to improve outcomes. MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership builds upon existing evidence and best practices and catalyzes innovations that enable government-led partnerships to deliver high-quality, evidence-based interventions that accelerate reductions in maternal, newborn, and child mortality and illness at scale. The project also contributes to global technical leadership, learning, and USAID’s policy dialogue to achieve global maternal, newborn, and child health, voluntary family planning, and reproductive health (MNCH/FP/RH) goals by supporting globally endorsed initiatives, strategies, frameworks, guidelines, and action plans.
View Project