With everything that the pandemic has brought to the world, and how much it has changed it, a new study shows another disturbing figure. There is now the study that stillbirth numbers rises exponentially during COVID 19.
Why has this been happening?
Some stillbirths are still preventable, by women sleeping on their side and even by counting their kicks to help monitor their baby's health. But there are still ways that these may not be enough and this is when women need medical attention. Unfortunately, it seems that the lockdowns in different countries, disrupted healthcare practices. This then led to complications for women and babies alike, and thus the unfortunate spike in the numbers.
Asma Khalil, an obstetrician at St George’s, University of London says that this may be that because pregnant women were not able to keep to their hospital check ups during the pandemic, they may have missed out on signs of complications. And once they were able to go to the hospital, or were forced to due to the complications getting worse, it may have been too late.
This has been seen as a unforeseen consequence of closing down cities and services. “What we’ve done is cause an unintended spike in stillbirth while trying to protect [pregnant women] from COVID-19,” says Jane Warland, a specialist in midwifery at the University of South Australia in Adelaide.
Normal times
Before the pandemic hit, it was recommended by doctors that pregnant women should have check ups every month of their pregnancy. This is especially so when the woman is going through a complicated or fragile pregnancy.
It could also be that because of the unknown ways that COVID was being transmitted, that some doctors may have advised that women stay home as much as they could. So usage of telemedicine rose during this time. But even there was a consultation, it is quite different still to be able to have your blood pressure taken and have a physical examination.
The Tragic Stillbirth Trend
This tragic trend is seen in developing countries and has become a two pronged problem. One reasons is that some countries are already in dire need of better healthcare systems, and were inevitably heavily hit during the pandemic. Another problem is because of this, we may not be getting the real numbers of the births in each population. Some women usually do not even give birth in hospitals but opt to do so at home.
As the hope of a vaccine is closer to reality, doctors hope that they are able to study this trend more closely, and objectively. There are many factors that are contributing to the trend, and each must be examined to get a better picture of why this happened.
Stillbirth Prevention
There are still some ways to prevent stillbirth. These are if a pregnant woman sleeps on their side starting around the 27th week of their pregnancy, to quit smoking, even vaping, and to monitor their own pregnancy, they can count their baby's kicks.
Here at the Asianparent, we have put up more information about how to prevent stillbirths throughout Asia. With Project Sidekicks, we offer information and tools all about stillbirths.
To learn more about stillbirth prevention, CLICK HERE to learn more about Project Sidekicks.