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SNL Newborn Health Legacy Timeline

Leading the emerging effort to finally address newborn mortality, Save the Children (USA) proposed and received a $50 million award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in 2000 to establish a flagship newborn health program focused on research, program learning, advocacy, partnership, and resource mobilization at global and country levels—the Saving Newborn Lives (SNL) program.

Over two decades (2000-2020), SNL worked in 32 countries, building close partnerships with governments, multilateral agencies, nongovernmental organizations and stakeholders, as well as health professionals through extensive newborn and perinatal research, advocacy, and program implementation.

The catalytic successes of three successive phases of SNL helped put newborn health solidly on the global policy agenda and led a concerted research movement to identify the burden and causes of newborn deaths, and to greatly expand the evidence base of feasible, affordable interventions to save newborns. At country level, SNL introduced and enabled the prioritization of newborn health in policies, programs, and research in over 20 countries.

Newborn Data

Save the Children’s Saving Newborn Lives (SNL) initiative celebrated 20 years of targeted action in newborn health, reflecting global, regional, national, and local partner support and commitment around the world.  Despite this progress, too many women and their newborns—including stillborn babies—die every year due to complications in pregnancy, childbirth, and the first 28 days of life. As the world rebuilds after the global COVID-19 pandemic, our mission as a global community of stakeholders committed to reaching mothers and their newborns with high-impact interventions along the continuum of care is more important than ever. This is especially true as we redouble our efforts to accelerate progress toward Every Newborn targets and milestones and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets 3.1 and 3.2, for maternal, newborn, and child health. 

4.9M

deaths in children under 5 globally (2022)

30.7

global neonatal mortality rate (2020)

17

global neonatal mortality rate (2022)

1.9M

stillbirths globally (2021)

Saving Newborn Lives – Newborn Health Legacy

Over the last 20 years, Save the Children and a broad and deep coalition of partners representing government, donors, civil society, and the communities and families we serve have worked collaboratively to elevate newborn health and survival as a public health priority, firmly anchoring the “N” in MNH. We have accomplished a great deal, but more needs to be done. We invite you to champion the agenda for mothers and newborns in your conversations, through platforms to share experience, knowledge, and evidence, and in meaningful engagement with and support to local partners and stakeholders. We all have a role to play in galvanizing global and local action for mothers and their children.