Good policies can help reduce baby deaths

A pregnant African woman holding her stomach. [File, Standard]

An expectant mother hopes to have a healthy baby at the end of the pregnancy. However, this is not always the case. It is estimated that over 2.6 million stillbirths occur every year globally. Majority of the stillbirths occur in sub-Sahara Africa

World Health Organisation defines stillbirth as a foetal death after 28 weeks of pregnancy, or when a baby who has reached viable gestational age dies before birth. This is different from a miscarriage that is the loss of a foetus before reaching the age of viability. Most stillbirths occur before a woman goes into labour. A smaller proportion happens during labour or just before delivery.