The future is ours

We have made significant improvements in maternity care: an 18.8% reduction in stillbirths (Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2018a), a 5.8% reduction in neonatal mortality (ONS, 2018b) and an 8% reduction in maternal mortality (Knight et al, 2018). Unfortunately, when compared to white babies, black babies had a 121% increased risk for stillbirth and a 50% increased risk for neonatal death; while in 2016, Asian babies had a 66% increased risk of neonatal mortality (compared to 38% in 2014). Black and Asian women also had a higher risk of dying in pregnancy (40/100 000 and 15/100 000, respectively), compared to white women (8/100 000) (Draper et al, 2018; Knight et al, 2018). Neonatal death rates were also higher for babies of mothers in the most deprived areas (Draper et al, 2018; Knight et al, 2018).