title: Stillbirths: progress and unfinished business.
abstract: This first paper of the Lancet Series on ending preventable stillbirths reviews progress in essential areas, identified in the 2011 call to action for stillbirth prevention, to inform the integrated post-2015 agenda for maternal and newborn health. Worldwide attention to babies who die in stillbirth is rapidly increasing, from integration within the new Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health, to country policies inspired by the Every Newborn Action Plan. Supportive new guidance and metrics including stillbirth as a core health indicator and measure of quality of care are emerging. Prenatal health is a crucial biological foundation to life-long health. A key priority is to integrate action for prenatal health within the continuum of care for maternal and newborn health. Still, specific actions for stillbirths are needed for advocacy, policy formulation, monitoring, and research, including improvement in the dearth of data for effective coverage of proven interventions for prenatal survival. Strong leadership is needed worldwide and in countries. Institutions with a mandate to lead global efforts for mothers and their babies must assert their leadership to reduce stillbirths by promoting healthy and safe pregnancies.
authors.affiliation: Department of International Public Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway; Center for Intervention Science for Maternal and Child Health, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. Electronic address: frederik.froen@fhi.no.
authors.forename: J Frederik
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Frøen
authors.affiliation: Department of International Public Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Ingrid K
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Friberg
authors.affiliation: Maternal, Adolescent, Reproductive and Child Health Centre, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: Joy E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Lawn
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK; Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada; Center of Excellence in Women and Child Health, the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Zulfiqar A
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Bhutta
authors.affiliation: South African Medical Research Council, Maternal and Infant Health Care Strategies Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Pattinson
authors.affiliation: School of Women's and Infants' Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia; UNDP/UN Population fund/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Emma R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Allanson
authors.affiliation: Mater Research Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; International Stillbirth Alliance, Millburn, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Vicki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Flenady
authors.affiliation: Research Triangle International, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: McClure
authors.affiliation: EnCompass LLC, Rockville, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Lynne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Goldenberg
authors.affiliation: Save the Children, Saving Newborn Lives, Edgemead, South Africa.
authors.forename: Mary V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Kinney
authors.affiliation: Mater Research Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; International Stillbirth Alliance, Millburn, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Susannah Hopkins
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Leisher
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Healthand Development, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pitt
authors.affiliation: WHO Country Office, Windhoek, Namibia.
authors.forename: Monir
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Ajay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khera
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Lakhbir
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dhaliwal
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Neelam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Health, WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia, Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Neena
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Raina
authors.affiliation: Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction, Department of Reproductive Health and Research, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marleen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Temmerman
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D006291:Health Policy; D006292:Health Priorities; D040361:Healthy People Programs; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D050497:Stillbirth / Q000453:epidemiology*