Resources launched to reduce stillbirth rates in diverse communities
The rate of stillbirths among women of First Nations, migrant and refugee communities is up to double the rate of the general population. It's prompted health workers to develop a suite of culturally sensitive pregnancy resources, aiming to save hundreds of babies.
Transcript
00:00 Fatima El-Assad felt totally alone when her baby daughter Aya was stillborn two years
00:07 ago.
00:08 You honestly think that you are the only one experiencing this and that nobody can really
00:12 relate to the sorrow and the grief and the depths of despair that you're feeling.
00:18 Adding to her pain was a lack of information specific to her culture and the taboos around
00:24 stillbirth.
00:25 The shrouding of secrecy and silence around it is so deafening and it really, really can
00:31 impact bereaved parents in a profound way.
00:34 Almost 2,000 families are affected by stillbirth every year. Research shows up to 30% of those
00:41 could have been prevented.
00:43 For First Nations women, the rate is even higher at 11.9 per 1,000 births. In the Northern
00:49 Territory it reaches 18.8. For women born in South Asia, the rate is 9.1 per 1,000 births
00:56 and for Central and West African born women, the rate is 14.
01:02 It's prompted health researchers to launch new kits in multiple languages aimed at supporting
01:07 those women, for example using terms like 'sorry business baby'.
01:13 Obviously stillbirth is a really sensitive topic but it's an even more sensitive topic
01:17 in the Aboriginal community.
01:18 The new resources aim to prevent babies dying.
01:22 Wouldn't it be fantastic to say we saved 300 babies as part of that work?
01:26 The key areas of prevention include supporting women to stop smoking, to sleep on their sides
01:32 and to seek help if their baby stops moving, while ensuring better management of slow foetal
01:38 growth and timing of birth.
01:41 So these resources are all about delivering optimal antenatal care.
01:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]