Stillbirth
Data and Parent Voices to End Preventable Deaths
New estimates released in October 2020 reported that about 2 million babies were stillborn in 2019. These, the first United Nations joint stillbirth estimates by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, have shone the spotlight on this neglected tragedy. However, global estimates are just the first step. Despite the preventability of the majority of stillbirths and increasing recognition of the importance of prevention, progress to end these deaths has been slow. The impact of stillbirth reaches far beyond the loss of life. In all settings, stillbirth profoundly impacts affected women, their families, health care workers, and the wider community, yet all too often, parents and families are left out of the conversation when planning interventions to reduce deaths and improve care for those affected, and little support is available. The Parent Voice Initiative recently found over 600 parent support organizations for stillbirth globally; however, only 15% of these were in Africa or Asia where the majority of stillbirths occur. Urgent action is needed to strengthen programmatic approaches and data systems to provide high-quality care throughout pregnancy and childbirth, toward ending preventable stillbirths and improving care after a death. In this session, a presentation was given on the latest global stillbirth estimates (2000 to 2019). Affected parents and public health professionals then talked about their personal experience of stillbirth and what is needed from the global MNH community to end preventable deaths.
Moderator: Dr. Hannah Blencowe, Associate Professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Panelists include:
Ms. Danzhen You
Senior Advisor
UNICEF
Mrs. Lucia Hug
Statistics Specialist
UNICEF
Ms. Susannah Hopkins-Leisher
Board Chair, PhD Student
International Stillbirth Alliance
Anuradha Talwar
Junior Auditor
PGIMER, Chandigarh
Ms. Wanjiru Kihusa
Founder & CEO
Still a Mum
Prof. Rakhi Dandona
Professor
Public Health Foundation of India
Ijeoma TDaniels
Founder
Writers Edge Consult
Presentation
A Neglected Tragedy: The Global Burden of Stillbirths
Featured Resources
White Ribbon Alliance
What Women Want Campaign
International Stillbirth Alliance
Still A Mum
Every Newborn Action Plan
QoC Network