Feryal Clark MP marks Baby Loss Awareness Week

Baby Loss Awareness Week is an important event for developing support networks for bereaved parents, and their families and friends.

Previous Awareness Week debates in the House of Commons have shown Parliament at its very best and yesterday was no different.

Debates, such as these, hopefully go some way towards breaking down the stigma which still sadly persists.

In the UK in 2018, around 1 in every 250 births was a stillbirth. In total there were 2,929 stillbirths. That’s around eight babies stillborn every day.

Stillbirth rates for Black and Black British babies were over twice those for White babies, whilst neonatal death rates were 45% higher.

Black women are still four times more likely than white women to die in pregnancy or childbirth in the UK, and we must do more to reduce this inequality.

During the pandemic, there has been reduced access to face-to-face appointments and when appointments do take place in person, partners have been excluded, leaving women to receive the worst news, or make the most decisions, alone.

Beyond the pandemic, I hope that the Government takes steps to address inequality in access to bereavement care across the country. The Royal College of Midwives has described the provision of care as inconsistent and under-resourced. A report by Sands also finds that 17% of neonatal units do not have access to a specific space for supporting bereaved families.

I pay tribute to members of the Baby Loss Awareness Alliance, including the charity Stillbirth and Neonatal Death (Sands), who work together to drive through change and improvements in bereavement care on a national basis.

If you or someone you know has been affected by baby loss, there is a wealth of advice and support available, which you can access via the Baby Loss Awareness Alliance’s website here: Baby Loss Awareness Week – Let's break the silence around baby loss (babyloss-awareness.org).