Stillbirth rate not coming down
The number of stillbirths remains stubbornly high, a report says.
The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH) study blames factors such as obesity, social deprivation and mother's age.
In 2006 the stillbirth rate in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was 5.3 per 1,000 total births, compared to 5.4 per 1,000 in 2000.
However, the report found there has been a reduction in the number of babies dying in the month after birth.
These neonatal deaths went from 3.9 per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 3.4 per 1,000 in 2006.
These new figures confirm that more research is desperately needed into finding the causes of stillbirth, so that more babies lives can be saved
The number of babies dying in the neonatal period from twin pregnancies has also fallen, from 22.3 per 1,000 births in 2000 to 19.3 per 1,000 births in 2006.
The report also highlights the poor uptake of post-mortem examinations for stillbirths (38% in 2006 compared with 48% in 2000) as one key reason why the cause of so many stillbirths is still unknown. More