London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Following the successful launch of The Lancet’s Stillbirth Series in April 2011, The Lancet in cooperation with the MARCH Centre, will launch a follow-on series entitled “Ending Preventable Stillbirths” on January 19, 2016. This launch, chaired by Dr Richard Horton, Lancet’s Editor-in-Chief, delivers five papers, including new UN stillbirth estimates and trends for 195 countries, as well as covering the mental health and economic effects of stillbirth, particularly on women and their families.

New risk factor analyses highlights priority programmatic actions required to prevent stillbirths in terms of high quality intrapartum and antenatal care, including management of infections such as syphilis and malaria, and of non-communicable diseases. A panel including affected parents, authors and audience discussion will debate how we seize missed opportunities and accelerate progress to end preventable stillbirths linked to  global maternal, neonatal, and child survival targets for 2030.

The series involved a collaboration of 216 authors, investigators, and advisers from 43 countries and more than 100 organisations, coordinated by Professor Joy Lawn (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)), and Dr Vicky Flenady (Mater Research Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, and the International Stillbirth Alliance).

Join us for this global launch. The Series booklet, containing the five papers and accompanying Comments, will be available at the event.

Image credit: UNFPA Tagaza Djibo