My experience simplifying a development message was last year during the "Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday" campaign. The rallying cry was easy to understand. No child should die from a preventable disease.

Nearly 30% of child deaths around the world could be prevented using tools we already have. That we fail to prevent these deaths is one of the single largest failures of humanity.

In the year-end issue of Impact, we announce the top 10 global health milestones of 2012. We asked some of the world's most renowned leaders in global health to comment on why these moments made the list. What we heard was insightful and, in many cases, encouraging.

More than 7 million children will die this year before they turn five. That is simply unacceptable. For a brief moment, the world is about to turn its attention to the issue of child survival and nutrition.