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Stillbirth rates alarming in India, Pakistan
New global health figures show Pakistan and India have some of the highest rates of stillbirth in the world, casting a spotlight on the phenomenon in India and Pakistan where other indicators of maternal health have improved in recent years.
New global health figures show Pakistan and India have some of the highest rates of stillbirth in the world, casting a spotlight on the phenomenon in India and Pakistan where other indicators of maternal health have improved in recent years. Pakistan has the worst rate — 43 out of 1,000 pregnancies end in stillbirths — according to studies published in British health journal, The Lancet.
In India, the rate was 22 in every 1,000 pregnancies in 2015 but because of its huge population, the country recorded the highest number of stillbirths around the world that year. It accounted for 5,92,100 out of a total of 2.6 million of such births. The authors put the high rates down to a lack of proper obstetrics care during childbirth.
The majority of stillbirths that occurred in the third trimester of pregnancy were preventable, the report said. Treating expectant mothers who contract infections, including malaria, would help to lower death rates, they study, carried out by academics from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine among others.
Around 8% of all stillborn babies globally died as a result of a mother’s malarial infection. Proper diagnosis and treatment of women who suffer from diabetes and hypertension, and greater access to family planning, could have also prevented a large number of deaths, the research said.
Iceland has the lowest incidence–1.3 per 1,000 total births.
The series of reports, titled ‘Ending Preventable Stillbirth,’ noted the annual rate of reduction for stillbirths is 2%, much slower than the progress made to reduce maternal or infant deaths. Joy Lawn, co-author of the series and a professor from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said that “there is common misperception that many of the deaths are inevitable.”
The latest research now points to facts that show half of stillborn deaths could have been prevented by providing basic care and better health monitoring both pre-labor and during childbirth. (Courtesy: The Wall Street Journal)
