One stillbirth every 16 seconds, and COVID-19 could make it worse

Almost two million babies are stillborn every year – one every 16 seconds – the United Nations said Thursday, warning that the COVID-19 pandemic could add another 200,000 deaths to a toll is described as devastating.

Some 84 percent of stillbirths, take place in low- and middle-income countries, as a result of a lack of midwives and poor quality healthcare, UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the World Bank Group said in a joint report. Improvements in basic antenatal care could save hundreds of thousands of lives each year, they added.

“Losing a child at birth or during pregnancy is a devastating tragedy for a family, one that is often endured quietly, yet all too frequently, around the world,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.

“Beyond the loss of life, the psychological and financial costs for women, families and societies are severe and long-lasting. For many of these mothers, it simply didn’t have to be this way.”

In 2019, three-quarters of stillbirths – defined in the report as a baby born with no signs of life at 28 weeks of pregnancy or more – occurred in sub-Saharan Africa or Southern Asia.

The report warned that the COVID-19 pandemic could result in nearly 200,000 additional stillbirths, assuming that 50 percent of health services in low- and middle-income countries are affected by the COVID-19 response.

Mark Hereward, UNICEF’s associate director for data and analytics, told the AFP news agency that infants in many countries would suffer from COVID-19 even if their mothers never contracted the disease. Approximately half of the stillbirths in sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia occur during labour, compared with only 6 percent in Europe, Northern America, Australia and New Zealand, the UN said.