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Small vulnerable newborns: a new conceptual framework
On May 9th 2023, at the 2023 International Maternal Newborn Health Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, the Small Vulnerable Newborns Consortium was launched, alongside The Lancet's Series and BJOG's Special Issue.
We applaud this initiative which strives to bring together the three conditions of preterm, small for gestational age (SGA), and low birthweight (LBW) in order to present a unified front in the fight towards every newborn reaching their highest attainable standard of health.
![The Lancet SVN](/sites/default/files/styles/standard_small/public/2023-05/fvqt6ndxgaafzec.png?h=99362da5&itok=xQP3pMVa)
Between 2014 and 2016, the INTERGROWTH-21st consortium published the first international newborn and preterm standards. We welcome with great enthusiasm the use of our standards to strengthen the small vulnerable newborns conceptual framework, and its use by the large and diverse consortium of scientists, practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders that developed and produced this framework.