WHO calls for greater progress in tackling neonatal mortality

Efforts to tackle neonatal mortality in the developing world need to be delivering better results, an official has stated.

According to Flavia Bustreo, assistant director general of family, women and children's health at the World Health Organization, there has not been "enough progress" on this issue in the last few years, Devex reports.

This, she said, needs to be addressed in order to resolve wider problems linked to maternal and child mortality.

Ms Bustreo stated that much depends on ensuring resources are channelled into "the areas where we have seen the least progress".

However, she noted that overall statistics on maternal and child mortality across the globe are encouraging, as signs of improvement have been seen in the last two decades.

Indeed, figures show a drop of almost 50 per cent since 1990.

Ms Bustreo said this is an exciting development, but stressed that much still needs to be done in order to ensure Millennium Development Goals are achieved by 2015.