Latin America and the Caribbean have a current population of 568,861 million inhabitants, with an annual average of births of 11,579,300.   It has been estimated that the number of deaths in children under 1 year is of 264,989 with an average rate of infant mortality of 22.7 per 1,000 live births.

The 176,270 deaths in the neonatal period (0 to 28 days) represent more than 60% of the total of deaths in children under 1 year and approximately two thirds of newborns die in the first week of life due to perinatal causes, poor management of problems during delivery and poor management of the birth asphyxia.   The leading causes of neonatal mortality in the Americas are the infections (32%), asphyxia at birth (29%), low weight, and prematurity (24%), and birth defects (10%).

As the majority of the neonatal deaths has been published they can be avoided with preventive measures (as `clean` delivery) and effective management of the complications (as asphyxia and infections).   The interventions that improve the maternal health have a significant impact on the health of the newborns but the knowledge should be implemented by all the health workers who attend deliveries in the home, health centers, and referral hospitals. Human resources constitute a critical factor of importance to implement the interventions, which means that plans to develop are needed human resources that it makes it possible to meet the needs for the community, as well as systems of supervision, logistics, reference and monitoring and evaluation.

It is clear that a substantial proportion of perinatal and neonatal deaths in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean can be prevented through the implementation of interventions that have shown to be effective and attainable. However, so that many politicians, directors of programs and other direct interested parties place attention on newborn health as a priority and to implement the interventions on a broader scale, we should show them that improve newborn health is currently essential for the reduction of infant mortality in the region and to be able to fulfill with the Millennium Development Goals for 2015.

It should also be caused to understand that the majority of interventions that save lives do not require of highly sophisticated techniques or specialists.   Neonatal mortality can be reduced even in very poor populations.   So that the activities in neonatal health are effective, accepted, and sustainable they should be carried out within a broader context of improvement of the maternal and child health and be made up with the programs and existing activities.

The actions of neonatal survival should also include the care in the home, where the majority are born and occur the deaths, taking into account the local sociocultural aspects health determinants and disease, as well as to maintain or to establish direct contact with the health workers in the community and the reference centers.