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http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(16)30258-3/fulltext
No reason to change WHO guidelines on cleansing the umbilical cord
David Osrin
Institute for Global Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK
Tim Colbourn
Affiliations
Institute for Global Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK
Published: 29 September 2016
Publication stage: In Press Corrected Proof
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(16)30258-3
20 years ago, neonatal survival was not on the global health agenda. In many low-income settings, infants died without recognition, causing untold grief. However, the past two decades have seen steady improvements in neonatal survival on a background of sustained advocacy, a culture of community-based trials, and improvements in quantity and quality of health care, health behaviour, and demand for services. Nevertheless, an annual 2·7 million newborn babies still do not survive their first month of life.