Every year, 2.6 million babies die before turning a month old. Tragically, one million of them take their first and last breaths on the day they are born. That means, as you read this, a new mother is grieving the loss of her child. However, many of these young lives could be saved if every mother and baby had access to affordable, quality health care, good nutrition and clean water.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched a global campaign “Every Child Alive” on Tuesday to address this grave problem and demand and deliver solutions on behalf of the world’s newborns. It calls for strong cooperation among governments, businesses, health-care providers, communities and families to give every newborn a fair chance to survive.

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Taking note of the “Every Child Alive” challenge, The Times of India invited UNICEF advocate and Bollywood superstar Kareena Kapoor Khan to write a powerful edit page article on the heartfelt necessity to save our newborn babies. The actress, whose baby boy Taimur Ali Khan is a chubby and cheery 14 months old, rose to the task with commendable sensitivity and says in her article, “It’s not that difficult or complicated if we really try.”

Beginning by saying that for almost every mother, the first days with her newborn baby are precious memories to be cherished forever because they are the most challenging and at the same time fulfilling days women experience, Kareena recalls her personal experience:

“I remember some long days and nights, without much sleep. Some were frustrating, as I tried inexpertly to calm my crying child. Some were simply bliss – as I treasured the new life that I had been able to bring into the world.”

But, she poignantly admits that while she was fortunate to embark on the journey of parenthood, for too many mothers in South Asia, the first days of their baby’s life will be remembered for a whole different reason. “I was shocked to discover how often a baby dies in South Asia,” Kareena writes. “We all know that newborns are vulnerable, and bad things can happen, but the sheer scale – 2,800 newborns dying every day in South Asia before they reach the age of one month! I cannot imagine how it must feel to carry a baby for nine months, to bring a baby into the world, and then to have its life snatched away just as it has begun.”

And here Kareena brings up UNICEF’s “Every Child Alive” campaign but says, “It is both possible and doable to keep many more babies alive and healthy, the governments are doing everything to ensure adequate service delivery, but it is not only about governments doing their bit, it is about civil society taking relevant and collective action.” And then, the

Bollywood actress known for delivering bold and path-breaking performances, suggests three things that mother and societies need to do in this direction.

1. Feed our newborn babies in the best way that we can: with our breast milk. “To give your baby the best start in life that he or she deserves, start breast feeding within the first hour of life,” Kareena says.

2. Entrust ourselves to skilled birth attendants who are properly trained to look after us and our babies in the time around birth. Kareena stresses, “No woman should give birth without help from a trained birth attendant. It is too dangerous.”

3. Look after our girls just as well as we look after our boys. The actress rues the gender discrimination and says, “It is incredibly sad that baby girls do not always get the same care that baby boys do.”