The State of the World’s Children 2009 focuses on maternal and neonatal health and identifies the interventions and actions that must be scaled up to save lives. Most maternal and neonatal deaths can be averted through proven interventions – including adequate nutrition, improved hygiene practices, antenatal care, skilled health workers assisting at births, emergency obstetric and newborn care, and post-natal visits for both mothers and newborns – delivered through a continuum of care linking households and communities to health systems. Research indicates that around 80 per cent of maternal deaths are preventable if women have access to essential maternity and basic health-care services.