Each year 5.5 million babies enter and leave the world without being recorded and one in three newborns—over 45 million babies—do not have a birth certificate by their first birthday, according to new research co-led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Babies who are stillborn, born too early, or who die soon after birth are least likely to be registered, even in high-income countries. This lack of registration is a key reason for slower progress in recent decades in reducing newborn deaths compared to maternal and child deaths – progress which must be accelerated if international child mortality targets are to be met.
Prof. Joy Lawn, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s MARCH Centre talks about the findings of The Lancet Every Newborn series in this audio interview.