Ulaanbaatar, 10 April 2025 – On World Health Day 2025, the Ministry of Health Mongolia and the World Health Organization (WHO) are celebrating Mongolia’s progress in maternal and newborn health while reaffirming their commitment to ensuring every mother and baby has the healthiest possible start in life.
Under the global theme “Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures”, Mongolia is launching its Healthy Newborn Initiative to further improve newborn survival and maternal health outcomes. This effort builds on two decades of progress, during which Mongolia has made remarkable strides in reducing maternal and child mortalities, ensuring that nearly all births are attended by skilled health professionals, and implementing broad health policy reforms, including stronger primary health care and expanded social health insurance.
Mongolia has made significant progress in maternal and newborn health. Since 2000, maternal deaths have dropped six-fold to 26.4 per 100 000 people, while infant mortality has declined 2.5 times to 12.3 per 1 000 live births. The Healthy Newborn Initiative builds on this progress, accelerating Mongolia’s efforts to achieve the ambitious targets set in Vision 2050, with a strong focus on ending preventable maternal and newborn deaths. To drive this forward, five national teams have been established to tackle the leading causes of newborn deaths and preventable complications:
- Comprehensive neonatal screening.
- Prevention of pre-term birth.
- Neonatal pulmonary hypertension diagnosis and treatment.
- Neonatal open-heart surgery.
- Brain cooling therapy.
A renewed commitment to mothers and babies
With this initiative, Mongolia demonstrates its unwavering commitment to protecting the health and well-being of every mother and newborn, ensuring that each has a healthy beginning.
“In any country, maternal and newborn health is a vital indicator of the nation's overall security and well-being,” said Minister of Health Dr. T. Munkhsaikhan. “Raising newborn care to international standards is one of the most significant investments for our country.
As a result of establishing a national team to reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality, new approaches have been introduced in neonatal care, such as brain cooling therapy and treatments to reduce pulmonary hypertension in newborns. To implement these new approaches, we have trained our doctors and specialists in highly developed countries with world-leading teams in this field, and we plan to continue this training effort in the future.
In Mongolia, the neonatal mortality rate is currently 7.7 per 1 000 live births. Together with international researchers, we have estimated that it is possible to reduce this to 5.5. To reduce child and neonatal morbidity and mortality, it is necessary not only to introduce new approaches but also to support the social and working conditions of neonatologists and nurses through policies aimed at systematically developing human resources through a structured and phased approach, and to ensure opportunities for continuous learning. Investment in maternal and newborn health is an investment in the future of Mongolia.”
“Mongolia’s progress in maternal and child health and its renewed commitment to providing high-quality care for every mother and newborn is an inspiring example of what can be achieved through strategic action and collaboration,” said Dr. Socorro Escalante, WHO Representative to Mongolia.
“Providing the right conditions for mothers and children to thrive is a responsibility for us all. WHO commends the Minister, Dr T Munksaikhan and the government for the National Healthy Newborn Initiative and his relentless efforts to anchor this programme within the context of system-wide reforms; strong primary health care; universal coverage for financing and ensuring availability of competent and well-trained health workforce available in all parts of the country.”
As Mongolia moves forward with its Vision 2050, the Healthy Newborn Initiative represents a significant step towards a healthier and hopeful future for all.