Covid could add to 2 million per year stillbirth toll: UN

Almost two million babies are stillborn every year-one every 16 secondsthe United Nations said Thursday, warning that the Covid-19 pandemic could add another 200,000 deaths to the "devastating" toll.

The vast majority of stillbirths, 84 percent, occur in low- and middle-income countries, where basic neonatal care could save hundreds of thousands of lives each year, according to a joint report by UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the World Bank Group.

Most stillbirths occur due to poor quality healthcare lacking investment in equipment and training of midwives.

And unlike notable reductions in recent decades in the global rate of maternal and infant deaths, stillbirths remain stubbornly frequent, particularly throughout sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia.

"Losing a child at birth or during pregnancy is a devastating tragedy for a family, one that is often endured quietly, yet all too frequently, around the world," said UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore.

"Beyond the loss of life, the psychological and financial costs for women, families and societies are severe and long lasting. For many of these mothers, it simply didn't have to be this way."

The report warned that the pandemic could result in nearly 200,000 additional stillbirths, assuming that 50 percent of health services are impacted in low- and middle-income countries by the Covid-19 response.

Mark Hereward, UNICEF's associate director for data and analytics, told AFP that infants in many countries would suffer from Covid-19 even if their mothers never contracted the disease.

"Firstly, due to the massive increase in poverty because of the global recessions," he said.

"The other way is through an interruption to health services, either because health workers are reassigned to work on Covid or because people are afraid to go to clinic."

Hereward said that without urgent action the world will have suffered 20 million more stillbirths by 2030.

Globally, over 40 percent of stillbirths occur during labour, the UN said. These are among the most avoidable deaths given that many labour stillbirths could be prevented with access to trained midwives and emergency obstetric care.