Northern Ireland’s birth rate has risen dramatically in the past decade, up by 20 per cent since 2002i. At the same time, the profile of the pregnant population is changing with a rise in some of the factors known to increase the risk of stillbirth and premature birth.

Encouragingly, Northern Ireland’s track record on preventing babies from dying is better than the rest of the UK. In 2007 Northern Ireland’s perinatal death rate – which includes stillbirths and deaths in the first seven days after birth - was 4.1 per 1,000 total births: significantly lower than 5.4 for England and Wales and 5.9 for Scotlandii. But there are worrying signs that the falling mortality in the early 2000s could now be reversing as the stillbirth rate in recent years has increasediii.

These deaths are not considered a public health priority. Yet the stillbirth risk is already ten times that of cot death, and even higher when known risk factors are taken into account including obesity, smoking, social deprivation, teenage pregnancies and older mothers - all key issues facing the health of the public in Northern Ireland. The same risk factors are also attributable to many premature births.

High quality prenatal and antenatal advice and care must be available to all women, and targeted at the most vulnerable women whose risk of having a stillborn or premature baby is highest.

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