Every year, about 2.5 million children die in the first month of life, with 98% of these deaths occurring in developing countries. In 2017, 47% of all under-5 child deaths were among newborn infants. Neonatal infections, including sepsis and meningitis, were estimated to cause over 350 000 deaths each year, with 150 000 attributed to pneumonia. The vast majority of newborn deaths takes place in low and middle-income countries.
Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy, introduced in 1995, is still one of the cornerstones to addressing the child preventable mortality.
