Building a Future for Women and Children: The 2012 Report

This report highlights country progress—and obstacles to progress—towards achieving Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health. Countdown to 2015 focuses on evidence based solutions—health interventions proven to save lives—and on the health systems, policies, financing and broader contextual factors that affect the equitable delivery of these interventions to women and children. Countdown focuses on data, because building a better future and protecting the basic human right to life require understanding where things stand right now and how they got to where they are today.