UNICEF: Over 395,000 babies to be born on Jan. 1, 2019

By Sibel Ugurlu </p> <p>ANKARA (AA) – More than 395,000 babies will be born around the world on New Year’s Day, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.</p> <p>A quarter will be born in South Asia alone, according to a statement issued by UNICEF .</p> <p>&quot;As the clock strikes midnight, Sydney will greet an estimated 168 babies, followed by 310 in Tokyo, 605 in Beijing, 166 in Madrid and finally, 317 in New York,&quot; the statement said.</p> <p>According to UNICEF, the first baby of 2019 will be born in Fiji in the Pacific and the last one in the United States.</p> <p>UNICEF estimates that 69,944 children will be born in India on the first day of the new year; 44,940 in China; 25,685 in Nigeria; 15,112 in Pakistan; 13,256 in Indonesia; 11,086 in the U.S.; 10,053 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and 8,428 in Bangladesh.</p> <p>In 2017, UNICEF said about 1 million babies died the day they were born, and 2.5 million in just their first month of life.</p> <p>“Among those children, most died from preventable causes such as premature birth, complications during delivery, and infections like sepsis and pneumonia, a violation of their basic right to survival,” it said.</p> <p>“This New Year Day, let’s all make a resolution to fulfill every right of every child, starting with the right to survive,” said Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, UNICEF deputy executive director.</p> <p>“We can save millions of babies if we invest in training and equipping local health workers so that every newborn is born into a safe pair of hands,” she said.</p> <p>2019 also marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which UNICEF will be commemorating with worldwide events throughout the year.</p> <p>&quot;Over the past three decades, the world has seen remarkable progress in child survival, cutting the number of children worldwide who die before their fifth birthday by more than half,&quot; according to UNICEF.</p> <p>But there has been slower progress for newborns.</p> <p>&quot;Babies dying in the first month account for 47 per cent of all deaths among children under five,&quot; UNICEF said.