Vote Now!

WESTPORT, Conn. (Jan. 7, 2009) — A Lancet article presenting the dramatic findings of a study co-funded by the global humanitarian organization Save the Children has been nominated to receive the prestigious medical journal's Paper of the Year 2008 award. 

The Lancet Paper of the Year award will be given to one of six nominated papers that receives the most online votes from readers. People are invited to visit lancet.com through January 12th to cast their vote.

The Save the Children-nominated article, "Effect of community-based newborn-care intervention package implemented through two service-delivery strategies in Sylhet district, Bangladesh: a cluster-randomised controlled trial," reported a one-third (34 percent) reduction in newborn mortality in a study area in Sylhet, Bangladesh, when mothers and newborns received care at home, compared to when they sought care at hospitals or clinics. The home care was provided through visits by local women — many with no formal health background — who underwent a six-week training to learn childbirth preparedness and essential newborn care.  

Newborn death rates in the home-based care group declined by more than 30 percent.

"[This] Lancet paper outlines strategies that are simple but effective in reducing the death toll and, importantly, are capable of being replicated widely in Bangladesh and elsewhere," wrote Lancet editors about the article's nomination for Paper of the Year.

Save the Children, through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, co-funded the three-year study with USAID in partnership with Johns Hopkins University and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B).  Johns Hopkins University Professor Abdullah Baqui is the lead author of the article, which ran in the June 7th, 2008 edition of the Lancet. 

Save the Children encourages you to vote by January 12th for Paper of the Year by clicking here. The winner will be announced in the January 24th edition of The Lancet.

Save the Children (www.savethechildren.org) is the leading, independent organization creating lasting change for children in need in the United States and around the world. For more than 75 years, Save the Children has worked to improve the lives of children and their families through programs in health, education and economic opportunities, and during times of crisis and conflict. Save the Children USA is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance, a global network of 27 independent Save the Children organizations working to ensure the well-being and protection of children in more than 100 countries.