A stillbirth occurs when a foetus dies in the uterus and when foetal death occurs after 20 weeks gestation or the foetus weighs more than 400 grams. We use the term to distinguish it from live birth or miscarriage. Most stillbirths occur in full term pregnancies.
The Lancet recently presented a series of articles on stillbirths. We can confirm from our studies from south Ethiopia that stillbirths represent a huge problem. About 5% of all hospital births are stillbirths. And, in our birth registry data, about 1.4 per cent of registered births are labelled as stillbirths. Such figures are uncertain, and some neonatal deaths might be misclassified as stillbirths.
Results from our studies in Ethiopia demand that we need to address this issue. What are the causes? Can we do anything to reduce stillbirths in settings such as rural south-west Ethiopia? We now plan to recruit a new PhD student to investigate how stillbirths can be reduced in southwest Ethiopia.