The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 called for reducing the mortality of under-5-year-olds by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015, and reducing maternal mortality by three-quarters over the same period. Substantial progress towards this has been made worldwide. The global maternal mortality ratio fell by 47% between 1990 and 2010 and the under-5 mortality rate also fell by 47% between 1990 and 2012 [1,2]. However, there has been insufficient progress and there is a risk that the global targets will not be met. Still every year 6.6 million children die before their 5th birthday, of whom 2.9 million are newborn babies in the first month of life. An estimated 287 000 women die due to the complications of pregnancy and childbirth, and the annual 2.6 million stillbirths are silent tragedies that have to be prevented.