Mission Statement:  To improve neonatal health and survival, and to foster partnerships with domestic and international research, program, policy, and funding institutions working in research, training and capacity building advocacy, and communication to increase the visibility of newborn health worldwide.

History:  The International Center for the Advancing Neonatal Health (ICANH) was established in 2005 to foster the development of innovative approaches to neonatal health that are integrated with programs and health systems in developing countries. The Center is housed in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Why is Neonatal Health Important?
Policies, programs, and resources for international child health have focused to date on older infants and young children, and effective interventions targeted towards major causes of childhood deaths have dramatically reduced infant (under one-year) and child (under-five) mortality in the developing world over the past three decades.  However, these same interventions have had relatively little impact on neonatal (first 28 days) health and survival.

As a result, two-thirds of deaths during infancy and nearly 40% of all deaths in children under 5 occur in the neonatal period (first 28 days of life).  Worldwide, 98% of all neonatal deaths occur in developing countries and are due primarily to infections, birth asphyxia and consequences of prematurity. In addition to the 4 million neonatal deaths each year around the world, an estimated 3 million additional stillbirths occur late in pregnancy.

A fresh approach is needed to reduce the burden of these early deaths in order to achieve Millennium Development Goal 4 for reducing childhood mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015.