Prevention of stillbirth remains one of the greatest challenges in modern maternity care. Despite this, public awareness is low and silence is common within families, the community and even healthcare professionals.

Brief

Australian families and parent advocacy groups given a voice through the Senate Enquiry have made passionate and articulate calls for a national stillbirth awareness campaign. This fourth paper in the Stillbirth in Australia series outlines why stillbirth needs a national public awareness campaign; and provides an overview of good practice in the design, development and evaluation of public awareness campaigns
Background

Prevention of stillbirth remains one of the greatest challenges in modern maternity care. Stillbirth affects 2.64 million babies globally each year and has well documented psychosocial and economic impacts on parents and families, caregivers and society.
Key takeaways

The cognitive and affective steps required to move from campaign awareness to action and eventually to stillbirth prevention are described. Using these best practice principles, learning from
previous campaigns combined with close collaboration with aligned agencies and initiatives should
assist a National Stillbirth Prevention Campaign to increase community awareness of stillbirth, help
break the silence and contribute to stillbirth prevention across Australia.
Key contributors

Adrienne Gordon
Lillian Chan
Christine Andrews
Keren Ludski
Jacquelyn Mead
Leigh Brezler
Claire Foord
Justin Mansfield
Philippa Middleton
Vicki J. Flenady
Adrian Bauman
Full report

Read the full report here.

Breaking the silence: Amplifying public awareness of stillbirth in Australia