The overlooked burden of birth defects in addressing newborn mortality

In this week’s blog post, Dr Meskerem Kebede and Dr Rocco Friebel (Global Surgery Policy Unit – LSE Health) lay out the need to reprioritise birth defects as a major contributor to neonatal and child mortality. Based on their research in Ethiopia and Somaliland, the authors argue that community- and primary care-focused surveillance, and timely interventions, are the essential ways to better understand and tackle this challenge.