Stillbirth in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A conceptual framework

The overall aim of this publication is to develop an initial conceptual framework on the specific factors that impact stillbirths in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). It is designed to go beyond the biomedical causes of stillbirth by exploring the interactions between underlying medical conditions and other proximal and distal factors. The specific focus here is on low-and middle-income  contexts, which accounted for 98 per cent of all stillbirths in 2019. While the underlying biomedical causes of stillbirths may be similar across contexts, access to high quality peri-conceptual, antenatal and obstetric health care varies widely between contexts. Where relevant, some of the background work that contributed to this framework included stillbirths in high-income contexts.