The World Health Report 2005 - Make Every Mother and Child Count

The 2005 report, Make Every Mother and Child Count, came at a time when only a decade was left to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which set internationally agreed development aspirations for the world's population to be met by 2015. The goals underlined the importance of improving health, and particularly the health of mothers and children, as an integral part of poverty reduction.

The report indicates that this year almost 11 million children under five years of age will die from causes that are largely preventable. Among them are 4 million babies who will not survive the first month of life. At the same time, more than half a million women will die in pregnancy, childbirth or soon after.

The report says that reducing this toll in line with the Millennium Development Goals depends largely on every mother and every child having the right to access to health care from pregnancy through childbirth, the neonatal period and childhood.