Every day in the UK, 17 babies are stillborn or die shortly after birth. Sands believes that many of these deaths are preventable, and that this level of baby loss is completely unacceptable.

 

Our Why 17? Campaign was launched to raise awareness of the issues surrounding baby loss and to initiate a public debate about stillbirth and neonatal death. Ultimately, our aim is to work with key parties to develop a national strategy to reduce the rates of baby loss.

 

Following successful launches of the Why 17? Campaign in Westminster and the devolved governments during 2009 and early 2010, we are now focusing our campaigning efforts on a number of specific issues, most of which are outlined in our Saving Babies Lives Report 2009.

 

• to ensure that resources are sufficiently allocated to better support those parents who suffer the loss of a baby
• to see improvements in maternity services to reduce the unnecessary loss of babies’ lives
• a comprehensive review of all stillbirths and neonatal deaths so that we can learn what went wrong and change practice accordingly
• increased funding for research into the prevention of stillbirths and neonatal deaths

For more information on our current campaigning priorities, click here.

"Seventeen": a request for photos for a new exhibition
02.09.10

My wife and I lost our baby boy, Alexander, at birth just over three years ago now.  The...

Read full story