MP backs campaign to cut baby deaths

WARRINGTON South MP David Mowat has pledged his support to a campaign to reduce the 6,500 baby deaths in the UK each year.
After meeting bereaved Warrington parents Fran Heald and her husband Jon Betts, Mr Mowat said he was shocked at the scale of baby deaths in the UK.
After attending a parliamentary reception in the House of Commons, organised by Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity, for the launch of their new report, Preventing Babies’ Deaths: what needs to be done, Mr Mowat pledged to back the campaign for more research and better care and awareness of the risks of stillbirth and newborn baby death.
The charity’s report says 1,200 babies’ lives could be saved every year.
Mr Mowat said, “I was shocked to discover the scale of baby deaths in the UK. Seventeen 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. These deaths have a devastating impact on parents and their families, and I fully support Sands in their call for urgent action to prevent baby deaths in the future.”
The Report highlights that advances in neonatal medicine have led to small but welcome reductions in the number of newborn babies dying, however, Sands remains extremely concerned by the UK’s persistently high stillbirth rates; stillbirth numbers in the UK are the same today as they were in the late 1990s, with 1 in 200 babies being stillborn. The UK has one of the highest stillbirth rates when compared to similar high income countries, yet Sands strongly believes that with the appropriate commitment and investment in research and improved care, a reduction in these rates is achievable and should be a key focus for all those concerned with maternity services.
Neal Long, Chief Executive of Sands, who addressed MPs at the parliamentary reception said, “A third of stillborn babies – around 1,200 babies – are perfectly formed and born at gestations when they might safely be delivered. But routine
antenatal care is failing to detect far too many babies who need help. These babies’ deaths are those that Sands, researchers and clinicians working in obstetrics, believe are avoidable deaths.
“We want to see real national commitment to tackling this ignored tragedy and preventing all avoidable baby deaths in the future. We want lives saved and families spared the desperate heartbreak of losing their precious baby.”