Classifying the causes of perinatal death

• Published in: Bulletin of the World Health Organization Vol. 94; no. 2; pp. 79 - 79A
• Main Authors: Allanson, Emma, Tunçalp, Özge, Gardosi, Jason, Pattinson, Robert C, Erwich, Jan Jaap HM, Flenady, Vicki J, Frøen, J Frederik, Neilson, James, Chou, Doris, Mathai, Matthews, Say, Lale, Gülmezoglu, Metin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland World Health Organization 01.02.2016
• Subjects: Benchmarks; Births; Child mortality; Childbirth & labor; Classification; Coding; Disease; Editorials; Fatalities; Health aspects; Health problems; Humans; Identification; Infant; Infant mortality; Infant, Newborn; International; International Classification of Diseases; International comparisons; Maternal mortality; Medical records; Mortality; Neonates; Obstetrics; Perinatal Death - etiology; Pregnancy; Prevention; Public health; Registration; Stillbirth; Trends; Womens health; New York; Netherlands; United Kingdom > UK; Norway; United States > US; England; South Africa; Australia; Switzerland
• ISSN: 0042-9686; 1564-0604; 1564-0604
• DOI: 10.2471/BLT.15.168047

There continues to be slow progress in preventing stillbirths. It is estimated that globally, more than 2 million stillbirths occur each year, adding to 2.9 million neonatal deaths. Ending preventable perinatal deaths is high on the international public health agenda. In countries with the highest mortality burden, limited or non-existent vital registration and medical records mean that perinatal deaths are often not recorded. Thus the first step in addressing high perinatal mortality is the accurate capture and classification of the causes of those deaths across all settings. The World Health Organization (WHO) is developing a system to enable comparisons within and between diverse settings, including low-, middle- and high-income countries. This will allow benchmarking and the identification of trends, gaps and modifiable factors and help to focus local and global efforts on prevention. Using the coding rules of the 10th revision of the International classification of diseases and related health problems (ICD-10), WHO, in collaboration with partners, has developed The WHO application of ICD-10 to perinatal deaths: ICD-perinatal mortality.