Healthy start to life – The Hindu BusinessLine

World Health Day (April 7) will kick off a year-long campaign on maternal and newborn health. Titled ‘Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures’, it urges governments and the health community to ramp up efforts to end preventable maternal and newborn deaths, and to prioritise women’s longer-term health and well-being.

An estimated 3 lakh women lose their life due to pregnancy or childbirth each year, while over 20 lakh babies die in their first month and around 20 lakh more are stillborn. That’s roughly one preventable death every seven seconds.

Based on current trends, a staggering four out of five countries are off track in meeting targets for improving maternal survival by 2030. One in three will fail to meet targets for reducing newborn deaths.

The campaign advocates for effective investments to improve the health of women and babies; encourage collective action to support parents as well as health professionals who provide critical care; and provide useful health information relating to pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period.