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 Hear our own Executive Director, Kathy Sandler, and Walk Committee Member Kelly Wilcott on CBS Radio, aired May 1st, 2011, chatting up our Kindness Project Hero Kit Blouin and the MISS Foundation Mothers Day Inaugural Walk happening May 8th, 2011!
Click here for full MP3 of the CBS interview...
~~~
Click Lancet image to read full executive summary.
 Contact:
Kathy Sandler, MSW,
602-279-MISS (6477),
kathy.sandler@missfoundation.org
Stillbirths:
The Invisible Public Health Problem
New estimates place annual
global toll at 2.6 million stillbirths
"The time has come for this
public health problem to be recognized…"
Some 2.6 million third trimester stillbirths worldwide occur every year, according to the first
comprehensive set of stillbirth estimates, published within this special series prompted by
the World Health Organization in the medical journal The Lancet.
Every day more than 7,300 babies are born dead. A death occurs just when parents expect to
welcome a new life. "The death of a baby to stillbirth is devastating to families, and we haven't
done enough, historically, to understand its etiology," says Joanne Cacciatore, PhD, Assistant
Professor and researcher on the psychological effects of stillbirth at Arizona State University
and President and Founder of the MISS Foundation, an international organization that cares for
families facing infant and child death. Kathy Sandler, MSW, Executive Director for the MISS
Foundation notes that "the MISS Foundation understands first-hand how traumatic the death of
a baby is for families… we've been spearheading efforts to pass legislation on how stillbirths
are recorded- and how these mothers are treated in the process- in the U.S. and have been
successful in 27 states."
Yet, the number of stillbirths can be slashed, say most experts. Besides lacking visibility, the
issue of stillbirth has lacked leadership both locally and internationally. "The time has come for
this public health problem to be recognized, explored, and eventually to reduce the numbers,"
says Cacciatore, referencing her participation in the first of The Lancet articles entitled:
Stillbirth: Why it matters. "This is a clarion call for attention to a much-underserved group."
"Parental groups must join with professional organizations to bring a unified message on
stillbirths to government agencies and the UN," says J. Frederik Frøen, M.D., PhD, an
epidemiologist at The Norwegian Institute of Public Health and member of the International
Stillbirth Alliance. "This Series shows that the way to address the problem of stillbirth is to
strengthen existing maternal, newborn, and child health programs by focusing on key
interventions, which often overlap with those interventions that benefit mothers and neonates,"
says Gary L. Darmstadt, M.D., Director, Family Health Division, Global Health Program, Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation. The WHO has worked in collaboration with worldwide
stakeholders to develop the first comprehensive, global set of stillbirth data by region.
In The Lancet's series on stillbirth, clinicians, researchers, and experts call for action to reach
these goals by 2020:
• For those nations with a current rate of under 5 per 1,000, to eliminate all preventable
stillbirths and close equity gaps;
• For countries with a stillbirth rate of more than 5 per 1,000 births, at least a 50 percent
reduction from the current rate;
• The MISS Foundation, additionally, advocates for all 50 states to adopt their version of the
Certificate of Birth resulting in Stillbirth in addition to a death certificate, already passed in
27 states;
• The MISS Foundation also encourages systemic change in the societal perception of
stillbirth, beginning with medical personnel, policy makers, mental health professionals,
researchers, and feminist groups, and for comprehensive support services to women and
their families suffering this traumatic loss.
For more information on the MISS Foundation visit www.missfoundation.org
Click here for MP3 of the press conference that launched the series.
~~~ |
| MISSing Angels Bill and Legislation
Updates -
MISS Foundation legislative activists pass HB2416
in Arizona...Find out about the law that changed history for stillborn
infants.
| The M.I.S.S. Foundation’s National Legislative Liaisons
go to Washington D.C.
John & Carolyn Nevels, MISS Foundation’s National
Legislative Liaison volunteers, traveled to our nation’s
capitol in May to speak on behalf of parents of stillborn
children. In 2002, Carolyn and John’s son, Bump, was
born still. Since then, they have been active in the
stillbirth community by working to have Texas enact
MISSing Angels legislation which will allow for the
issuance of a "Certificate of Birth Resulting
in Stillbirth."
The Nevels’ joined with other representatives of
national organizations dedicated to reducing stillbirth
in the U.S., and with the support and guidance of the
Health and Medicine Counsel of Washington, participated
in a full day of advocacy that comprised of a multitude
of teams attending pre-arranged meetings with the aides
and liaisons of members of Congress in the Capitol's
Senate and House Buildings.
At each of the five meetings they attended, John
and Carolyn asked for increased funding from the National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This
funding is imperative for medical research, education
of first responders, and for bereavement support services.
Each meeting taken with a Congress member’s aide was
a positive (and hopefully productive) experience.
It is estimated that nearly 30,000 babies die as
a result of stillbirth in the U.S. each year.
~
Change doesn’t happen without your voice being heard.
We are our children’s voices. For more information,
please visit www.MissingAngelsBill.org
July 2004
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Read about the MISS Foundation in the news:
Please email us at info@missfoundation.org
if you have questions or would like additional information on anything
presented here.
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