Increase funding to curb stillbirths, experts advise
A mother and her newborn.
Kenyan health officials have backed a global report that has raised alarm over a spike in stillbirths in sub-Sahara Africa, saying this makes a case for more resources to improve maternal healthcare.
While calling for more resource allocation at the county and national level, health officials said they are not surprised by the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (Unicef) findings that the burden of stillbirths in the region has gone up from 26 per cent in 2000 to 45 per cent in 2021.
In Kenya, the stillbirth rate is 19 per 1,000 total births according to the World Health Organization, which further notes that as of 2019, 53 per cent of stillbirths occurred during labour and birth while 47 per cent occurred during pregnancy.
Speaking to the Nation on Thursday, Dr Caroline Mwangi, who heads the neonatal and child health division at the Ministry of Health, highlighted that Kenya’s stillbirth rate is 18 deaths per 1,000 live births even though new Kenya Health Information Systems data could be released next week.
Dr Mwangi said that the government has collaborated with county governments to develop policies and guidelines, including training guidelines, for healthcare providers targeting the reduction of stillbirths, as well as child morbidity and mortality.
“We call for increased resource allocation at both national and county levels to enhance implementation of these high-impact interventions to reduce our mortality rates,” she said.
Intrapartum stillbirth
The report, covering the year 2021 disclosed that two in five of babies died during labour – what is known as intrapartum stillbirth – highlighting the immense burden of stillbirths and the women at the greatest risk of having a stillbirth.
Unicef further reveals that in 2021, more than two in five stillbirths that took place were intrapartum; in high-burden settings, this rises to one in two. They point out that had these women had access to high-quality care during childbirth, most of these children would live.
“The burden of stillbirths is highest in sub-Sahara Africa and Southern Asia, with the two regions accounting for three-quarters of all stillbirths. In sub-Saharan Africa, the stillbirth rate of 21 per 1,000 total births was seven times higher than the lowest regional rate of 2.9 in the Europe, Northern America, Australia and New Zealand region,” the report notes. It further discloses that mothers in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia suffered nearly eight in 10 (77 per cent) stillbirths in 2021.
“Almost one in three (29 per cent) took place in low-income countries and nearly half (45 per cent) of all stillbirths happened in sub-Saharan Africa, despite the fact that less than a third (29 per cent) of all live births occurred in the region,” the report notes.
It adds: “The number and share of stillbirths that take place in sub-Saharan Africa continue to increase as the risk of stillbirth varies widely between countries with the highest national stillbirth rate in 2021 being 20 times that of the lowest national rate.”
