The world has made remarkable progress in the fight to end child mortality in recent years. Since 1990, we have almost halved the number of children who die every year before the age of five – from 12.6 million to 6.6 million.  This amazing achievement – even more impressive given that the populations in the poorest countries have grown by 70% during this period– allows us to start to imagine a world where no child is born to die from easily preventable causes. And yet, in spite of this progress, child mortality remains one of the great shames of our modern world. Every day, 18,000 children under five die, and most from preventable causes.