Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) Newborn Health

Complications from preterm birth constitute the leading cause of death for children under five. Despite global efforts to develop and promote high-impact interventions for newborn health, nearly three million infants die each year within the first month of life, with more than three-quarters of these deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Improvements in the prevention of newborn death have lagged behind those for maternal and child health. The Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) is a global initiative that aims to reduce preventable newborn deaths. MCSP provides advocacy and technical support to implement key interventions that address the major causes of newborn death, including intrapartum complications, newborn infections, and complications of preterm birth. The program focuses on providing appropriate and timely essential newborn care immediately after birth and thereafter. MCSP's approach includes newborn resuscitation to manage asphyxia, Kangaroo Mother Care for premature and low birth weight newborns, and newborn infection prevention and management. The program emphasizes integration with maternal care, while strengthening health services and the household-to-hospital continuum of care. MCSP collaborates with global initiatives such as the Saving Newborn Lives program, the Survive & Thrive Global Development Alliance, and the Every Newborn Action Plan to ensure newborn health remains on global and national agendas. Country partnerships include governments, local partners, and communities where MCSP supports policy strengthening and scale-up of evidence-based newborn interventions. These collective efforts contribute towards strengthening skills and improving the quality of newborn health services through programs such as Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) for newborn resuscitation, Essential Care for Every Baby (ECEB), and Essential Care for the Small Baby (ECSB), and appropriate management of newborn infections. MCSP's ultimate goal is to ensure that all women, newborns, and children most in need have equitable access to quality health care services to save lives. The program is focused on 24 high-priority countries with the ultimate goal of ending preventable child and maternal deaths within a generation. MCSP supports programming in maternal, newborn, and child health, immunization, family planning and reproductive health, nutrition, health systems strengthening, water/sanitation/hygiene, malaria, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and pediatric HIV care and treatment.