As Melinda blogged about on Monday, a new pneumococcal vaccine has been introduced in Kenya, which will protect thousands of children from pneumonia—the leading killer of children under five. This is terrific progress for Kenyan families.
The pneumonia vaccine has also been introduced in The Gambia. Watch one woman’s story.
However, of the 8.1 million deaths per year of children under the age of 5, more than 40 percent happen in the first 28 days of life, or the neonatal period. The good news is that we are headed in the right direction. In 1995 there were an estimated 5.6 million neonatal deaths. The most recent estimates show the number down to around 3.6 million.
Read more about saving the youngest children in the 2011 Annual Letter from Bill Gates.