NIHR - Global Health Research GROUP on Stillbirth Prevention and Management in Sub-Saharan Africa, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Background: Globally, 2.6 million babies die just before or during birth each year; 98% of stillbirths occur in low and middle income countries. Stillbirth is a tragedy for women and families, who suffer long lasting grief for their baby and are at high risk of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder; most have little support and care. In low income countries, including Sub-Saharan Africa, over half of stillbirths happen during labour. Many women also have associated health problems, e.g. obstetric fistula. Stillbirth also affects health services, through increased costs for care and treatment along with health staff stress and burnout when supporting bereaved families. Many stillbirths are preventable with good quality maternity care. Unfortunately progress in preventing stillbirth has been far too slow to reach international targets and many women still do not receive basic humane care after their baby dies. A major problem is the lack of understanding of causes, how to change practice and provide better care in the countries most affected. The group aims are to: 1) Undertake high quality research into stillbirth within low income settings 2) Develop research capacity amongst health professionals in LMIC's 3) Build capacity amongst UK group members in global health research 4) Ensure that the work of the group demonstrates change, or potential to change, in policy and/or practice for women and/or families at a local, national and international levels 5) Engage key stakeholders in research activities, as appropriate During this 3 year programme, the research group are bringing together leading researchers, with expertise in stillbirth prevention and bereavement care to work with colleagues who have long standing experience of working in maternity care in low and middle income countries. The University of Manchester team have partnered with the Lugina Africa Midwives Research Network (www.LAMRN.org), a network of midwives from 6 countries (Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe) to deliver high quality research. The group are tackling 3 main areas of care: 1.Prevention of stillbirth through improved identification of women with high risk pregnancies. 2.Better childbirth care by examining factors which influence how women seek and access care, the quality of the care received and specific causes of stillbirth in local healthcare facilities, using new effective tools. 3.Ensuring humane and respectful care for bereaved parents through understanding the experiences of women, partners and health workers after stillbirth. Outcome: The Research group will a) gain understanding of the issues in improving stillbirth prevention, childbirth and bereavement care in low income settings b) develop culturally relevant studies for further investigation, and c) establish itself as a catalyst for change.