The State of the World's Children 2009 UNICEF report.

• Tenlastelegging: Worldwide news - United Nations. Children's Fund - Report

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The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has launched its annual report on the 'State of the World's Children', and this year the significant report from this UN agency focuses on maternal and newborn health.

The first section emphasises a midwifery philosophy and approach in confirming that 'The factors jeopardizing maternal and newborn survival and health across the developing world reinforce the benefits of a continuum of care, which underlines the imperative of delivering essential services for mothers and children at critical points in time ... and at key locations where they can be readily accessed by women and children ... The continuum of care emphasizes that a woman's capacity to sustain her own health and life, and that of her child, during pregnancy and childbirth begins with skills, care and protection received from early adolescence.'

The report draws attention to the added target on reproductive health now included in the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) configuration. Target B, in MDG 5, seeks to 'Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health.'

The 'State of the World's Children' provides a mass of information of interest to midwives, and the tables set in the...