Last week the Global Newborn Health Conference took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. As the first conference to gather leading experts and NGOs together working to reduce  newborn mortality,  one solid, unified voice emerged committed to saving more newborn lives not in lip service, but rather in actionable ideas and steps to reach Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 by 2015.

Reaching MDG4 globally is a daunting task to be sure. That is why leading organizations and foundations have to tackle newborn mortality full throttle. With less than 1000 days to reach MDG 4 across the board some countries will meet their targeted goals and others will fall short. We know this. However, the post 2015 agenda is equally as important in order to strive to keep more babies alive. Reducing the number of 3 million babies who die each year is an ongoing process. In fact, the number seems so high you might feel you can’t truly help if you’re not a part of the global development community, but you can. Here’s how.

1. Become a part of the conversation: Emerging from the Global Newborn Health Conference was the Global Newborn Health Action Plan. The Plan, which will be officially launched in November, is looking for a range of voices about ways to reduce newborn deaths. You can have your say at www.globalnewbornaction.org and also join the conversation on Twitter at #newbornactionplan.
2. Donate to newborn health projects: Through Catapult,  a crowdfunding platform with a clear emphasis on women and girls, you can donate to carefully chosen projects that specifically help newborns. Consider donating to PATH’s breast milk banking project in South Africa or birth waiting homes in Sierra Leone that will save moms’ and babies’ lives.
3. Advocate for and support leading NGOs: There are leading NGOs that work specifically in the areas of maternal and newborn health like Save the Children that works in over 100 countries saving children and Jhpiego that has health programs in more than 25 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
4. Shop and support the March of Dimes: Through Mother’s Day you can shop, dine, and donate to the March of Dimes through their new imbornto.com campaign. Funds go to improve and amplify research to save more babies’ lives both domestically and globally.

Related articles

• Key Tweets From the Global Newborn Health Conference (mombloggersforsocialgood.com)
• Continuing the Newborn Health and Survival Conversation #Newborn2013 (mombloggersforsocialgood.com)
• Join the Global Conversation About Newborn Health #Newborn2013 (mombloggersforsocialgood.com)