New Report: 2.6M Annual Stillbirths Ignored
Posted on | April 19, 2011 by Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D. |
You would never know that there are 2.6 million stillbirths every year and 1.2 million of them happen to healthy babies during labor and delivery.
There was a time when UN conferences would talk about stillbirths. Not anymore.
This past week, the UN produced a document on population and development that completely ignored stillbirth, but mentioned abortion and euphemisms for abortion at least half a dozen times in the context of reducing the 358,000 global maternal deaths.
What would really reduce maternal deaths is the same thing that would save millions of children who die in childbirth: skilled care at birth and better antenatal care.
So says a new series just-released in the British medical journal, Lancet.
Millions of stillbirths occur uncounted each year and are not reflected in global policy. Until now, UN data collation systems have not included stillbirth. Global policy targets, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), omit stillbirths, as does the Global Burden of Disease. In an era of global efforts for maternal health, a woman’s own aspiration of a live baby is missing from the world’s health agenda.
According to the Lancet, “the poor are most affected—98% of stillbirths occur in low income and middle-income countries and more than two-thirds are in rural families.” These are the same regions most pressured to liberalize laws on and access to abortion.
Most surprising is the Lancet’s recognition of the humanity of the lifeless child that is delivered. This in stark contrast with the publication’s previous reporting on “safe” abortion.
Most stillborn babies are disposed of without recognition or rituals, such as naming, funeral rites, or the mother holding or dressing the baby. A widespread belief is that stillbirth represents a natural selection of babies never meant to live. Almost a third of stillbirths are almost always or often blamed on the woman or on evil spirits. Efforts are needed to overcome this fatalism, lessen the stigma associated with stillbirth, and provide bereavement support. Stigma and blame add to and prolong parents’ grief. The silence surrounding stillbirths hides the problem and impedes investment.
