Abstract
The aim of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3) is to ensure healthy lives and to promote well-being for all ages. The newborn focused target of this goal, SDG3.2, is to end preventable deaths of newborns: specifically to achieve national neonatal mortality rates (NMR) as low as 12 deaths per 1000 live births, and additio-nally stillbirth rates of 1a s low as 12 deaths per 1000 live births by 2030. NMRs have decreased at global, regional, and national levels; however, the magnitude of these decreases have not paralleled the more substantial decreases of under-five mortality rates, and this disparity is even more significant in Pakistan at 62% of under five deaths being attributed to 2,3n ewborns. Pakistan currently has the second highest NMR in the world, at 41.2 neonatal deaths per 1000 live births, and one of the highest stillbirth rates (SBR) at 30.6 per 1000 2l ive births. Within the Punjab region of Pakistan the neonatal 4m ortality is a staggering 63 deaths per 1000 live births. With Pakistan’s neonatal mortality contributing to significantly more than half of the under five deaths, its NMR and SBR indicate a serious need for increased assessment and intervention within the neonatal delivery and care setting.