Classifying Stillbirths and Neonatal Deaths to Inform Prevention Strategies

Accurate and consistent classification - at the global level - of causes and contributing factors to stillbirths and neonatal deaths (perinatal mortality) is essential to inform policy and programmatic change, and counsel bereaved parents. However, a globally acceptable classification system remains elusive. The World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases for Perinatal Mortality (WHO ICD-PM) is recommended as a global solution for the accurate classification of perinatal deaths, but deficiencies in this system remain. The International Stillbirth Alliance proposes a system for use across data-rich settings, which will also serve low-resource settings through a purposeful mapping to the ICD-PM.