On New Year’s Day, UNICEF Challenges Nations to Join Fight to Help More Newborns Survive First Days of Life

2018’s first baby – a girl named Vilisi Ciri Sovocala – was born at 1.44 am on New Year’s Day in Suva, the island capital of Fiji. Photo: UNICEF/Chute

“This New Year, UNICEF’s resolution is to help give every child more than an hour, more than a day, more than a month – more than survival,” Stefan Peterson, UNICEF’s Chief of Health, said Monday 1 January 2018.

The agency reported that Kiribati’s Christmas Island in the Pacific would most likely welcome 2018’s first baby; the United States, its last. Globally, over half of these births are estimated to take place in nine countries:

• India – 69,070
• China – 44,760
• Nigeria – 20,210
• Pakistan – 14,910
• Indonesia – 13,370
• United States – 11,280
• Democratic Republic of Congo – 9,400
• Ethiopia – 9,020
• Bangladesh – 8,370

While many babies will survive, some will not make it past their first day. In 2016, an estimated 2,600 children died within the first 24 hours every day of the year. UNICEF said that for almost two million newborns, their first week was also their last.

In all, 2.6 million children died before the end of their first month. Among those children, more than 80 per cent died from preventable and treatable causes such as premature birth, complications during delivery, and infections like sepsis and pneumonia.

“We call on governments and partners to join the fight to save millions of children’s lives by providing proven, low-cost solutions,” said Peterson.

UNICEF-supported non-rounded estimates on births and life expectancy by countries: here