AUTHOR=Tesfay Neamin , Legesse Frehiwot , Kebede Mandefro , Woldeyohannes Fitsum 

TITLE=Determinants of stillbirth among reviewed perinatal deaths in Ethiopia

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2022.1030981

DOI=10.3389/fped.2022.1030981

ISSN=2296-2360

ABSTRACT=Background 
The global burden of stillbirth has declined over time. However, the problem is still prominent in South Asian and Sub-Saharan African countries. Ethiopia is one of the top stillbirth reporting countries in the world. Despite several measures taken to reduce the burden of stillbirth; the pace of decline was not as good as the post-neonatal death. Thus, this study is aimed at identifying potential factors related to stillbirth in Ethiopia based on nationally reviewed perinatal deaths
Method
The national perinatal death surveillance data were used for this study. A total of 3814 reviewed perinatal death were included in the study. Alternating logistic regression was employed to investigate the risk factors of stillbirth.
Result 
Among reviewed perinatal death nearly forty percent (37.4%) were stillbirths. The findings from the multivariate analysis demonstrated that the place of birth (in transit and at home), cause of death (infection, and congenital and chromosomal abnormalities), maternal health condition (women with complications of pregnancy, placenta, and cord), delay one (delay in deciding to seek care) and delay three (delay in receiving adequate care) were associated with an increased risk of having a stillbirth. On the other hand, maternal education (women with primary and above education level) and the type of health facility (women who were treated in secondary and tertiary health care) were associated with a decreased risk of having a stillbirth.
Conclusion 
The study identified that both individual (place of delivery, cause of death, maternal health condition, maternal education, and delay one) and facility level (type of health facility and delay three) factors contributed to stillbirth outcome. Therefore, policies that are aimed at encouraging institutional delivery, improving health seek behaviors, and strengthening facility-level readiness should be devised to reduce the high burden of stillbirth in Ethiopia.