At Johnson & Johnson we envision a world where every mother and newborn has the chance to live a healthy and productive life. Since our 2010 commitment to Every Woman Every Child, Johnson & Johnson has invested over $25 million to save newborn lives, touching more than 11 million newborns in 26 countries.
Despite enormous progress made over the last two decades through efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, newborn deaths still account for at least 44% of deaths among children under the age of five globally, resulting in 2.9 million lives lost each year. As we look forward at the ambitious agenda set for the Sustainable Development Goals over the next 15 years, continued focus on the challenge of newborn mortality is critical.
In 2015, Johnson & Johnson reaffirmed our dedication to create a world in which no baby dies from a preventable cause with the launch of a new 5-year, $30 million commitment to save newborn lives as part of the Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP).
The Every Newborn Action Plan brings together the latest evidence on effective interventions, providing a roadmap and joint action platform to end preventable stillbirths and newborn deaths. ENAP gives two specific targets for all countries to achieve by 2035: 1) Reduce neonatal mortality rates to 10 or fewer newborn deaths per 1,000 live births and 2) Reduce stillbirth rates to 10 or fewer stillbirths per 1,000 total births. To reach these newborn survival goals, the World Health Organization reports that: more than 90 countries must accelerate progress; Of those, 29 countries must more than double current rates of progress.
As our first partnership towards this commitment, Johnson & Johnson joined USAID and partners to launch, Helping 100,000 Babies Survive and Thrive. In 2014 we committed $1 million over 3 years to support the initiative aimed at training health workers on newborn survival and care, using hands-on training programs that are tailored to the local context, as well as providing mentoring support. The Helping 100,000 Babies Survive and Thrive initiative, under the Survive & Thrive private-public partnership, targets 3 high-burden countries – India, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
Moving forward, Johnson & Johnson will continue to utilize our unique strengths, capacities and resources, collaborating with partners to ensure that all babies are born with an equal chance of survival.
Related: Newborn Survival Now (Infographic)