Translation of research into reality in sub-Saharan Africa

摘要

In 2000, Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 was framed with the intention of reducing the worldwide child mortality rate by two-thirds of the 1990 level by 2015. Worldwide, mortality rates in infants and children younger than 5 years have fallen, but further reductions in infant mortality rate are hindered by the unyielding high neonatal mortality rate in several resource-poor countries and are contributing to an increasing proportion of all childhood deaths. For this reason, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa are not on target to meet MDG 4. Furthermore, sub-Saharan Africa is one of the regions showing the least progress. In 2009, WHO and UNICEF issued a joint statement about the strategy to improve newborn lives and called on governments to implement this strategy.