15 million babies born too soon, over 1 million die each year

A new report provides the first-ever national, regional and global estimates of preterm birth. The report shows the extent to which preterm birth is on the rise in most countries, and is now the second leading cause of death globally for children under five, after pneumonia.

Addressing preterm birth is now an urgent priority for reaching Millennium Development Goal 4, calling for the reduction of child deaths by two-thirds by 2015. This report shows that rapid change is possible and identifies priority actions for everyone.

The Lancet today published a series of reports on the largest generation of young people in history, 1.8 billion 10-24 year olds. Nearly 90% of them live in low- and middle-income countries. Four reports analyse the importance of adolescent health from a life-course perspective; examine how social determinants influence adolescent health; present evidence from prevention trials, and present available data from multi-country datasets on 25 suggested core indicators.

The Countdown to 2015 is tracking progress towards MDGs 4 and 5 in 75 countries with lowest incomes and/or highest burden of maternal and child deaths. The Countdown is an active collaborator to implement the recommendations of the Commission on Information and Accountability for women’s and children’s health, and responsible for global tracking of results. In this context, the Countdown has released a new report that summarizes the status of progress in 75 countries towards the 11 indicators of results, recommended by the Commission for global monitoring. The report was first presented at the meeting of the Inter-Parliamentarian Union in Kampala, Uganda, 31 March - 5 April 2012. It will be followed by a more detailed report of progress covering additional indicators in June 2012.

• More information about the Countdown to 2015

23 March. The United Nations Commission on Life Saving Commodities for Women and Children aims to improve access to essential but overlooked health supplies that could save the lives of millions of women and children. The Commission will focus on promoting a robust supply of quality products and innovations. It will advocate for fair pricing for these commodities, with a view to reducing prices and improving market efficiencies, stability of supplies, and returns on public health investments.