There are nearly 1.9 million stillbirths every year with over 40 per cent of all stillbirths occur during labour. The majority of stillbirths could be prevented with quality and respectful care during childbirth. In 2014, the World Health Assembly endorsed the Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) which includes a global target of 12 or fewer third trimester (late) stillbirths per 1,000 total births in every country by 2030. This same target is included in the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescent’s Health.
Definition:
The stillbirth rate (SBR) is defined as the number of babies born with no signs of life at 28 weeks or more of gestation, per 1,000 total births.
Data from civil registration: the number of stillbirths divided by the number of total births. Data from surveys: the number of pregnancy losses during or after the seventh month of pregnancy for the 5 years preceding the interview, divided by the sum of live births and late pregnancy losses in the same time period. Data from administrative reporting systems/registries: the number of stillbirths divided by the number of total births. Data from health facilities: the number of stillbirths divided by the number of total births documented in the facility.
M&E Framework:
Impact
Method of estimation:
For data from countries with civil registration and good coverage, data meeting definition criteria of greater than or equal to 28 completed weeks gestation or 1000g or more are taken directly from civil registration without adjustment. For other countries, stillbirth rates are estimated with a regression model.
Method of estimation of global and regional aggregates:
Estimation and projection of stillbirth rates is undertaken using a statistical model for all country years. In the model, the SBR is estimated assuming that the Observed log(SBR) = log(true SBR) + bias + measurement error where the true SBR in a country for 2000 to 2021 = country-intercept + SBR predicted by covariates + country-specific temporal smoothing process (explained further below). The model produces estimates of the SBR for 2000 to 2021 with uncertainty.
Other possible data sources:
Administrative reporting systems
Health facility data
Special studies
Preferred data sources:
Civil registration
Population-based surveys
Expected frequency of data dissemination:
Dissemination every 3−5 years
Expected frequency of data collection:
Continuous data collection
Comments:
The stillbirth rate is calculated as: SBR = 1000 * sb refers to the number of stillbirths ≥ 28 weeks or more of gestational age lb refers to the number of live births regardless of gestational age or birthweight.
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