title: Generating political priority for neonatal mortality reduction in Bangladesh.
abstract: The low priority that most low-income countries give to neonatal mortality, which now constitutes more than 40% of deaths to children younger than 5 years, is a stumbling block to the world achieving the child survival Millennium Development Goal. Bangladesh is an exception to this inattention. Between 2000 and 2011, newborn survival emerged from obscurity to relative prominence on the government's health policy agenda. Drawing on a public policy framework, we analyzed how this attention emerged. Critical factors included national advocacy, government commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, and donor resources. The emergence of policy attention involved interactions between global and national factors rather than either alone. The case offers guidance on generating priority for neglected health problems in low-income countries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Administration and Policy, School of Public Affairs, American University, Washington, DC 20016-8070, USA. jshiffma@american.edu
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shiffman
authors.forename: Sharmina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sultana
mesh_terms: D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D003906:Developing Countries; D006291:Health Policy; D006292:Health Priorities; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D016019:Survival Analysis