Cochrane Library Special Collections provide a round-up of up-to-date Cochrane evidence on a specific topic. This Special Collection has been created to highlight evidence-based interventions to reduce stillbirth and improve care for families after stillbirth and in a subsequent pregnancy, identify women at increased risk of stillbirth, and improve knowledge of causes of and contributors to stillbirth. 

Stillbirth is a major public health problem with an enormous global mortality burden and psychosocial impact on women, families, communities, and health systems. Despite the scale of the problem and potential for prevention, stillbirth has been largely neglected in global public health. While there has been some improvement in the global stillbirth rate over the past 20 years, much more needs to be done.  Efforts to ensure optimal care throughout the COVID-19 pandemic are critical, particularly for disadvantaged populations. 

This Special Collection was a collaborative effort with members of the Stillbirth Centre of Research Excellence, the International Stillbirth Alliance, and others.

Topics  of the Special collection include: 

• Preventing stillbirth
• Novel approaches for identifying women at increased risk of stillbirth
• Improving care after stillbirth and in subsequent pregnancies
• Improving knowledge of causes of and contributors to stillbirth

A special Evidently Cochrane blog post for maternity care providers and families has also been published. Dr Aleena Wojcieszek, clinical epidemiologist, science communicator, and honorary research fellow at the Australian Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth (Stillbirth CRE), and Ms Susannah Hopkins Leisher, mom to stillborn son Wilder Daniel (13 July 1999), PhD student in epidemiology at Columbia University, and chair of the International Stillbirth Alliance, look at an overview of Cochrane evidence on antenatal interventions to prevent stillbirth and perinatal death. This review is included in the Special Collection. 

• Read the Special Collection
• Read the Evidently Cochrane blog: Preventing stillbirth: What’s the latest evidence?