They go on to say what public health messages are needed to prevent stillbirth:
“Most preventable stillbirths in the UK are attributable to social factors that are shaped by poverty, deprivation, and income inequality: cigarette smoking, obesity, diabetes, alcohol use – with stillbirths being twice as common among mothers living in England’s poorest 10% of regions than the richest 10%. Resolving such a disparity is undeniably challenging; but even small improvements to population health far outweigh any “one-by-one” approach. The English ban on smoking in public spaces, for example, has been linked to an 8% decrease in stillbirth; an improvement that’s patently beyond what could be achieved by spending on maternity care alone. Instead, if the UK government wants any real hope of halving the stillbirth rate by 2030, it would do better to reverse the proposed cuts to public health funding – which provides vital services, such as stop-smoking programmes – and increase efforts to address the social factors that cause ill-health from the very start of life.”
So it would seem that there is some controversy in the UK about how to go about preventing stillbirth?
Let me throw my hat into the ring of this debate! I would suggest that preventing stillbirth can be best achieved by taking a holistic approach including:
- a variety of public health lifestyle messages (including those in bold above),
AS WELL AS
- public health messages around keeping safe in pregnancy especially making sure that all pregnant women know that changes in fetal movements close to term is a sign to be immediately reported
- improvement of maternity care services during pregnancy which involves care providers listening and responding to concerns of their pregnant clients, including proper management of reports of altered fetal movement, detection and management of fetal growth restriction.This involves teaching the matra to all maternity care providers…say it with me………
I’m Concerned that You’re concerned
AND
- improving intrapartum care as per Hunt’s suggestions