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On Monday September 18, 2006, The Lancet, UNICEF, and the Norwegian Government hosted a key meeting in New York to assess the progress being made to reduce child deaths by two-thirds by 2015 - the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG4). Heads of State and health experts convened to map out the global action still urgently required to make MDG4 a reality.

The meeting coincided with the publication of a special issue of The Lancet devoted to child survival. The issue included the latest findings from the Child Survival Countdown - a worldwide effort to monitor the use of interventions that can improve child survival in 60 countries where 94% of child deaths under five occur. The Lancet helped initiate this campaign with the publication of the 2003 Lancet/Bellagio Child Survival series.

In The Lancet special issue

Countdown to 2015: tracking intervention coverage for child survival
Bryce J, Terreri N, Victora CG, Mason E, Daelmans B, Bhutta ZA, Bustreo F, Songane F, Salama P, Wardlaw T - 23 September 2006 (Vol. 368, Issue 9541, pages 1067-1076)
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