News, comment and features on infant and child mortality, exploring where and why children die in the developing world
July 2024
The Guardian picture essay
Rat soup, snails and oracles: why Nigeria’s traditional midwives still have a vital role to play
Doctors may not always agree with their methods, but in Lagos state, traditional birth attendants are helping to connect women and their babies with modern maternity treatments
June 2024
Texas abortion ban linked to increase in infant deaths, new study finds
Study analyzed effects of state’s six-week abortion ban, and may be an indicator of how post-Roe bans affect the US
TV review
Maternity: Broken Trust review – the furious tale of grieving parents’ fight for justice
This fine documentary about the maternity care failures that led to avoidable deaths never lets the awful stories obscure the bigger picture – the importance of accountability
Infant mortality is rising and births are plummeting. This is the legacy of 14 years of Tory cruelty
Polly Toynbee
Grim figures show that children in poverty are dying needlessly. We desperately need a government that puts them first, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
May 2024
‘You don’t forget as a mother’: the British parents finally reunited with their stillborn babies
What happens when a baby is stillborn in England and Wales?
February 2024
Republic of Parenthood
Call the midwife! No matter how bad you’ve heard care can be, ‘freebirthing’ is not the answer
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
Giving birth at home without medical support is simply dangerous, says Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
November 2023
Why is pre-eclampsia still causing the deaths of mothers and their babies?
Pregnant in Gaza with no clinics: ‘I have no idea where I will give birth’
September 2023
One common virus is still killing thousands of children every year – but new vaccines offer hope
Devi Sridhar
Exciting scientific developments offer solutions to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The only barrier is cost, says Prof Devi Sridhar, the chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh
August 2023
‘Agents of change’: Kenya’s traditional midwives help cut deaths of mothers
Kenya has one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates but rural birth attendants are now helping make deliveries safer
June 2023
The Bruno and Dom project
Jump in child deaths reveals impact of industrialisation on Amazon’s Indigenous peoples
As an economic boom’s gains pass them by, people in unprotected land have been hit by hunger and disease, with infant mortality rates seven times higher than the rest of Brazil
January 2023
Five million children worldwide die before fifth birthday, says UN
Almost half of deaths occur in babies’ first month and most could be prevented with better healthcare according to campaigners
November 2022
Beyond 8 billion
How has the world’s population grown since 1950?
The number of people in the world has tripled in 70 years. In this visual explainer, we examine where the growth has been – and how it will change in the future
September 2022
Safe infant sleep: consumer groups say Australian product regulation lags
Soothing solutions for crying babies
March 2022
Patients dying as conflict prevents supplies reaching Tigray hospitals
Medics unable to keep babies alive, says doctor, as Ethiopia’s civil war creates desperate shortages of drugs, oxygen, fuel and food
September 2021
Air pollution likely cause of up to 6m premature births, study finds
Global analysis of indoor and outdoor pollution also finds link to low birth weight
Opinion
The Taliban are not the only threat to Afghanistan. Aid cuts could undo 20 years of progress
Kevin Watkins
The most vulnerable people will bear the cost of sanctions, as services and the economy collapse
Delivering babies in a Nigerian camp: ‘I’ve had to use plastic bags as gloves’
After seeing a woman die in childbirth, Liyatu Ayuba stepped in and has now delivered 118 babies in a community cut off from public health services
