Western Australia has joined the Safer Baby Bundle, an initiative to tackle the nation’s stillbirth rate.
Minister for Health, Roger Cook said the Safer Baby Bundle comprised a range of resources and interventions designed to reduce Australia’s incidence of stillbirth, particularly among women from 28 weeks of gestation.
“Across Australia an average of six infants are stillborn every day, creating heartache for more than 2,000 families a year,” Mr Cook said.
“Research suggests that almost a third of these deaths are preventable.”
He said the Safer Baby Bundle had been developed by the National Health and Medical Research Council and was based on the latest clinical best-practice in stillbirth prevention from around the world.
He said the initiative covered five elements — smoking cessation; improved detection of restricted foetal growth; improved awareness and management of decreased foetal movement; expectant mothers’ side sleeping from 28 weeks; and improved decision-making around timing of birth for those with risk factors.
“A key aim of the bundle is to encourage healthcare providers to talk to patients about their risk of stillbirth and how their care throughout pregnancy can be personalised according to their risk,” Mr Cook said.
“The Safer Baby Bundle was developed in response to findings from the 2018 Senate Select Committee Inquiry into Stillbirths in Australia which found Australia was lagging behind other high-income countries with its stillbirth rate.”
