View Resource
Although Nigeria has made significant progress in reducing under‐5 mortality, it failed to meet its target for Millennium Development Goal 4. A total of 240,000 newborns, 7 percent of the global neonatal mortality burden, die each year in Nigeria within the first month of life. Complications of prematurity and infections remain the leading causes of these deaths. Nigeria must strengthen efforts to improve newborn health to reduce neonatal mortality from its current rate of 37 to the target of less than 12 per 1000 live births by 2030, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.