There is still an alarming gap in neonatal healthcare and outcome between Western and Eastern European countries and the former USSR countries in particular. Most of the causes of neonatal mortality and morbidity can be prevented or managed by simple cost-effective interventions aimed at improving quality of healthcare, health system organisation and family and community participation. Training of health professionals and health policy-makers in the field of essential neonatal care and breastfeeding promotion is one of the cornerstones of the World Health Organization (WHO) initiatives Making Pregnancy Safer (MPS) and Promoting Effective Perinatal Care (PEPC) - the latter specifically tailored to the European Region - aimed at ensuring safe pregnancy and childbirth through ensuring the availability, access and use of quality skilled care. After 8 years of experience of training in essential neonatal care, positive changes in planning for and delivering neonatal care are taking place, even in challenging contexts, and this model of intervention should be further implemented in the region.