Action against birth defects: if not now, when?

Figures & data

Figure 1. Proportional mortality for children under-5 years according to all-cause mortality rate categories (very high, U5MR greater than 55 deaths per 1000 live births to very low, U5MR less than 5 deaths per 1000 live births). Cause specific mortality is from the child and adolescent cause of death estimation group, 2021(1). Congenital anomalies increase as a proportion of total under-5 mortality as survival improves.

Table 1. Highlights of global reports, conferences, professional association statements and UN resolutions. Many other national advocacy actions have been produced in the last two decades. Collectively, very little result has come from these efforts.

Organization	Action	Date	Result
March of Dimes	International Conference on Birth Defects and Disabilities in the Developing World (ICBD)	2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2020, 2023	Number of conferences sponsored until the final conference in 2023 in Santiago Chile; No further conferences will be supported by March of Dimes.
March of Dimes, World Health Organization and other partners	Global Report on Birth Defects^2	2006	Global report on burden of birth defects, showing the heavy burden on low and middle income countries
World Health Organization	World Health Assembly 63 passed resolution 63.17 recognized the importance of birth defects as a cause of stillbirths and neonatal mortality^3	2010	WHO Member States agreed to promote primary prevention, screening, surveillance, and to improve the health of children born with birth defects
International Conference on Birth Defects and Disabilities in the Developing World (ICBD)	Consensus Statement from professionals working in birth defects^4	2015	Called for actions to ‘maximize the opportunity for every woman and couple to have a healthy child and to reduce the mortality and severe disability associated with potentially avoidable congenital disorders and their consequences’
International Conference on Birth Defects and Disabilities in the Developing World (ICBD)	Consensus Statement from professionals working in birth defects^5	2017	Called for improved screening, detection, treatment, care and research into birth defects
World Health Organization	World Health Assembly 67 passed resolution 76.19 to accelerate efforts to prevent micronutrient deficiencies through safe and effective food fortification, a population-wide health intervention to prevent some severe birth defects of the brain and spine.^6	2023	WHO urges Member States to implement large scale food fortification as an evidence-based and cost-effective intervention to fight the consequences of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, including spina bifida and other neural tube defects