Stillbirths: progress and unfinished business

2016
Paper 1: This is the first article published in the 2016 Lancet Series on Ending Preventable Stillbirths. The article reviews progress in key areas. It aims to inform the integrated post-2015 agenda for maternal and newborn health.
This is the first of five articles published in the 2016 Lancet Series on Ending Preventable Stillbirths.  This article reviews progress in key areas, which were identified in the 2011 call to action for stillbirth prevention. The review aims to inform the integrated post-2015 agenda for maternal and newborn health.The 2011 Stillbirth Series highlighted a gap between the large stillbirth burden and the lack of this issue on the global maternal and newborn health agenda. To assess progress, this paper conducted a policy analysis in maternal and newborn health to explore why stillbirths are prioritised or not.The article found that worldwide attention for stillbirths is rapidly increasing. As highlighted, stillbirth prevention is now firmly integrated into global initiatives such as the Every Newborn Action Plan and the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (Global Strategy 2.0). The article also notes that new policies to prevent stillbirths are emerging, including revised World Health Organization (WHO) guidance for care during pregnancy and labour. In addition, the WHO plans to include stillbirth as a core health indicator and measure of quality of care.Despite these gains, the authors note that continued action is needed to prevent stillbirths. The paper highlights that a key priority is to integrate quality care before, during, and after childbirth. The article highlights five priority areas to reduce stillbirths:
  1. “Intentional leadership
  2. Increased voice, especially of women
  3. Implementation of integrated interventions with appropriate investment
  4. Indicators to measure effect of interventions and especially to monitor progress
  5. Investigation into crucial knowledge gaps”
To read the Lancet Ending Preventable Stillbirths Series, click here.To read the article for free, click here.Frøen, J. F., Friberg, I. K., Lawn, J. E., Bhutta, Z. A., Pattinson, R. C., Allanson, E. R., Flenady, V., McClure, E.M., Franco, L., Goldenberg, R.L., Kinney, M.V., Hopkins Leisher, S., Pitt, C., Islam, M., Khera, A., Dhaliwal, L., Aggarwal, N., Raina, N., & Temmerman, M. (2016). Stillbirths : progress and unfinished business, The Lancet, 6736(15), 1–13.

Frøen, J. F., Friberg, I. K., Lawn, J. E., Bhutta, Z. A., Pattinson, R. C., Allanson, E. R., Flenady, V., McClure, E.M., Franco, L., Goldenberg, R.L., Kinney, M.V., Hopkins Leisher, S., Pitt, C., Islam, M., Khera, A., Dhaliwal, L., Aggarwal, N., Raina, N., & Temmerman, M. (2016). Stillbirths : progress and unfinished business, The Lancet, 6736(15), 1–13.

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