Report:  Accountability for Maternal, Newborn and Child Survival
Countdown to 2015
27 May 2013
Summary report: http://countdown2015mnch.org/documents/2013Report/Countdown_2013-Update_noprofiles.pdf
Full report: http://countdown2015mnch.org/documents/2013Report/Countdown_2013-Update_withprofiles.pdf

The new Countdown report has been produced by a global collaboration of academics and health professionals from Johns Hopkins University, Aga Khan University, Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil, Harvard University, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, UNFPA, Family Care International, Save the Children, and other institutions from around the world. The secretariat of the Countdown to 2015 initiative (www.countdown2015mnch.org) is based at The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health.

Countdown to 2015 assesses progress in the 75 countries that together account for more than 95% of all maternal and child deaths. This evidence is intended to support greater progress towards achieving UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 by 2015. These MDGs call for reducing maternal deaths by three-quarters and the deaths of children under 5 years of age by two-thirds compared to 1990 levels.

Accountability for Maternal, Newborn and Child Survival reports on the extent to which women and children have access to key life-saving services in these 75 countries, including family planning, antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, post-natal care, vaccinations, and treatment for diarrhea, pneumonia and other leading killers of young children…

…The report also highlights areas where more progress is needed, including:
. Infectious Diseases. Malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea, sepsis, measles, AIDS, and other infectious diseases account for at least half of all young child deaths.  Many of these deaths can be prevented with cost-effective interventions. These priorities are highlighted by several recent efforts to scale up action to reduce child mortality, including the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea, launched last month by WHO and UNICEF; the Global Vaccine Action Plan, endorsed by the 194 member-states of the WHO in 2012; and Committing to Child Survival: A Promise Renewed, led by the governments of India, Ethiopia and the US, supported by UNICEF…