Skip to main content

Ending Preventable Stillbirths

Every year approximately 2.6 million infants are stillborn. This is a significant challenge to public health, primary care, emergency and maternity services around the globe.

The articles grouped here into the BMC Ending Preventable Stillbirth Series draw together manuscripts that explore the need for better information regarding the babies that die and how the reasons for their death are documented. They explore risk factors for stillbirth, particularly in socially excluded populations. Finally, they consider the enduring impact of stillbirth, how this may be quantified and what interventions can be employed to ameliorate the impact of stillbirth in low and high-income settings. We hope that the evidence presented here is a building block to the prevention of stillbirth and its negative impacts.

Guest Editors: Dr Alex Heazell, Dr Frederik Froen

Editor: Nawsheen Boodhun

Pregnant woman © © Luis Louro / Fotolia

© Luis Louro / Fotolia

  1. Despite impressive improvements in maternal survival throughout the world, rates of antepartum complications remain high. These conditions also contribute to high rates of perinatal deaths, which include still...

    Authors: Rasheda Khanam, Saifuddin Ahmed, Andreea A. Creanga, Nazma Begum, Alain K. Koffi, Arif Mahmud, Heather Rosen and Abdullah H. Baqui
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2017 17:81
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  3. Stillbirths and neonatal deaths are devastating events for both parents and clinicians and are global public health concerns. Careful clinical management after these deaths is required, including appropriate i...

    Authors: Paul A. Gardiner, Alison L. Kent, Viviana Rodriguez, Aleena M. Wojcieszek, David Ellwood, Adrienne Gordon, Patricia A. Wilson, Diana M. Bond, Adrian Charles, Susan Arbuckle, Glenn J. Gardener, Jeremy J. Oats, Jan Jaap Erwich, Fleurisca J. Korteweg, T. H. Nguyen Duc, Susannah Hopkins Leisher…
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2016 16:376
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  4. Each year, about 5.3 million babies die in the perinatal period. Understanding of causes of death is critical for prevention, yet there is no globally acceptable classification system. Instead, many disparate ...

    Authors: Susannah Hopkins Leisher, Zheyi Teoh, Hanna Reinebrant, Emma Allanson, Hannah Blencowe, Jan Jaap Erwich, J. Frederik Frøen, Jason Gardosi, Sanne Gordijn, A. Metin Gülmezoglu, Alexander E. P. Heazell, Fleurisca Korteweg, Joy Lawn, Elizabeth M. McClure, Robert Pattinson, Gordon C. S. Smith…
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2016 16:295
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  5. Electronic health registries – eRegistries - can systematically collect relevant information at the point of care for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH). However, a suite of process and outc...

    Authors: Vicki Flenady, Aleena M. Wojcieszek, Ingvild Fjeldheim, Ingrid K. Friberg, Victoria Nankabirwa, Jagrati V. Jani, Sonja Myhre, Philippa Middleton, Caroline Crowther, David Ellwood, David Tudehope, Robert Pattinson, Jacqueline Ho, Jiji Matthews, Aurora Bermudez Ortega, Mahima Venkateswaran…
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2016 16:293
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  6. The limited availability of maternal and child health data has limited progress in reducing mortality and morbidity among pregnant women and children. Global health agencies, leaders, and funders are prioritiz...

    Authors: Sonja L. Myhre, Jane Kaye, Lee A. Bygrave, Margunn Aanestad, Buthaina Ghanem, Patricia Mechael and J. Frederik Frøen
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2016 16:279
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  7. To reduce the burden of 5.3 million stillbirths and neonatal deaths annually, an understanding of causes of deaths is critical. A systematic review identified 81 systems for classification of causes of stillbi...

    Authors: Susannah Hopkins Leisher, Zheyi Teoh, Hanna Reinebrant, Emma Allanson, Hannah Blencowe, Jan Jaap Erwich, J. Frederik Frøen, Jason Gardosi, Sanne Gordijn, A. Metin Gülmezoglu, Alexander E. P. Heazell, Fleurisca Korteweg, Joy Lawn, Elizabeth M. McClure, Robert Pattinson, Gordon C. S. Smith…
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2016 16:269
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  8. Despite the global burden of perinatal deaths, there is currently no single, globally-acceptable classification system for perinatal deaths. Instead, multiple, disparate systems are in use world-wide. This inc...

    Authors: Aleena M. Wojcieszek, Hanna E. Reinebrant, Susannah Hopkins Leisher, Emma Allanson, Michael Coory, Jan Jaap Erwich, J. Frederik Frøen, Jason Gardosi, Sanne Gordijn, Metin Gulmezoglu, Alexander E. P. Heazell, Fleurisca J. Korteweg, Elizabeth McClure, Robert Pattinson, Robert M. Silver, Gordon Smith…
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2016 16:223
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  9. In Australia, significant disparity persists in stillbirth rates between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous Australian) and non-Indigenous women. Diabetes, hypertension, antepartum haemorrhage a...

    Authors: Ibinabo Ibiebele, Michael Coory, Gordon C. S. Smith, Frances M Boyle, Susan Vlack, Philippa Middleton, Yvette Roe and Vicki Flenady
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2016 16:159
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  10. 2.7 million babies were stillborn in 2015 worldwide; behind these statistics lie the experiences of bereaved parents. The first Lancet series on stillbirth in 2011 described stillbirth as one of the “most sham...

    Authors: Alison Ellis, Caroline Chebsey, Claire Storey, Stephanie Bradley, Sue Jackson, Vicki Flenady, Alexander Heazell and Dimitrios Siassakos
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2016 16:16
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  11. Previous studies have shown that socioeconomic position is inversely associated with stillbirth risk, but the impact on national rates in Europe is not known. We aimed to assess the magnitude of social inequal...

    Authors: Jennifer Zeitlin, Laust Mortensen, Caroline Prunet, Alison Macfarlane, Ashna D. Hindori-Mohangoo, Mika Gissler, Katarzyna Szamotulska, Karin van der Pal, Francisco Bolumar, Anne-Marie Nybo Andersen, Helga Sól Ólafsdóttir, Wei-Hong Zhang, Béatrice Blondel and Sophie Alexander
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2016 16:15
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  12. The Global Roadmap for Health Measurement and Accountability sees integrated systems for health information as key to obtaining seamless, sustainable, and secure information exchanges at all levels of health s...

    Authors: J. Frederik Frøen, Sonja L. Myhre, Michael J. Frost, Doris Chou, Garrett Mehl, Lale Say, Socheat Cheng, Ingvild Fjeldheim, Ingrid K. Friberg, Steve French, Jagrati V. Jani, Jane Kaye, John Lewis, Ane Lunde, Kjersti Mørkrid, Victoria Nankabirwa…
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2016 16:11
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  13. Despite improvements in maternity healthcare services over the last few decades, more than 2.7 million babies worldwide are stillborn each year. The global health agenda is silent about stillbirth, perhaps, in...

    Authors: Christy Burden, Stephanie Bradley, Claire Storey, Alison Ellis, Alexander E. P. Heazell, Soo Downe, Joanne Cacciatore and Dimitrios Siassakos
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2016 16:9
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  14. Compared to other pregnancy-related events, the full cost of stillbirth remains poorly described. In the UK one in every 200 births ends in stillbirth. As a follow-up to a recent study which explored the direc...

    Authors: Chidubem B. Ogwulu, Louise J. Jackson, Alexander E.P. Heazell and Tracy E. Roberts
    Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2015 15:188
    Content type: Research article Published on: