The BBC World documentary, Invisible Lives, follows Save the Children’s Dr. Joy Lawn as she travels to Malawi and Nepal to see how these two countries are addressing their previously unrecorded, “invisible” burden of newborn deaths.
Globally 3.1 million newborns die each year, making up more than 40% of under-five child deaths. More newborn lives must be saved in order to meet Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 for child survival, a 2/3 reduction in under-five child deaths by 2015. How can these numbers be reduced? We go to Malawi and Nepal, countries that are both on track for MDG 4 and have similar statistics on newborn survival, to find out what is being done.