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1,200 baby deaths a year preventable

1 min read Health
Around 1,200 stillbirths a year are avoidable, a report launched today (18 January) has claimed.

Preventing Babies’ Deaths: What Needs to be Done, produced by infant death charity Sands, argues that many of the 6,500 stillbirth and neo-natal deaths each year in the UK could be a prevented through better research, improved investment in antenatal care and greater awareness among parents of the risks of stillbirth.

Despite medical improvements, the stillbirth rate of one in 200 babies is the same as in the late 1990s and is among the highest rates in the developed world, according to the report, which adds that one in 300 babies dies before they are one month old.

Sands chief executive Neal Long said: "The scale of baby deaths in the UK is shocking. 17 babies are stillborn or die shortly after birth every day, with stillbirth being the largest contributor to child deaths under the age of five years."

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