Over 3,000 lives are lost to stillbirth a day across the world - most of which are preventable, according to studies published by The Lancet.
Two-thirds of last year's 2.6 million stillbirths were in Africa.
Half of stillbirths happen during labour as a result of preventable conditions, notably syphilis and malaria.
The studies argue stillbirths are preventable through high-quality antenatal care.
The studies say there is a widespread belief that stillbirths are due to birth defects which are unavoidable.
However, it points out that this only accounts for 7.3 per cent of stillbirths after 28 weeks.
They ranked the three countries with the highest rates of still births as Pakistan, followed by Nigeria and Chad.
A notable exception is Rwanda, which the studies point out is able to reduce the number of stillbirths.
CREDIT: BBC
