With India reporting the highest number of stillbirths in the world — as many as 20 to 66 per 1,000 births — the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has sought research to identify and understand the local causes and risk factors for stillbirth, from the medical as well as sociological perspective.

The move follows concerns that nearly three million third-trimester stillbirths occur worldwide each year and 98 per cent of these are in low-income and middle-income countries.  Despite this, reporting of stillbirths is poor and cause of stillbirth remains largely unidentified in India, said a senior official from the ICMR.

“A stillbirth is a baby born with no signs of life at or after 28 weeks’ gestation. There is a need to identify and understand the local causes of and risk factors for stillbirth both from the medical and sociological perspective.

This will help to develop programmes for identifying, monitoring and reducing stillbirth rates at different levels of health care through inter-disciplinary team approach,” the official said.

“Obstructed labour, pre-eclampsia or eclampsia, infections especially chorioamnionitis, malaria, and hepatitis, injudicious use of oxytocin, placental abruption and umbilical cord complications are the major causes of stillbirth in developing countries where antenatal and intranatal care is poor, he added.

In affluent societies, congenital anomalies, preterm birth, diabetes, and post-term pregnancy contribute to the burden of stillbirths.

An article published in South East Asia Journal Of Public Health last year has noted that entangled within socio-cultural misconceptions, stillbirths lose out on medical care.