Stillbirth rate and causes in a low-resource setting, Mpilo Central Hospital, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

A global concern is to end preventable stillbirths by the year 2030. The objective of this study was to document the stillbirth rate and causes of stillbirths in a low-resource setting. This was a retrospective descriptive study carried out at Mpilo Central Hospital, a tertiary teaching referral government hospital in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe during the period January to December 2016. There were 8801 live births and 268 stillbirths (rate: 30.5/1000). The majority(81.3%) were macerated. Pre-term labour, pre-eclampsia, eclampsia and abruptio placenta accounted for 51.1%. In 29.9%, the cause could not be identified. A high proportion of macerated stillbirths were unexplained; hence this calls for a renewed focus on community-based approaches to reduce delays in seeking care. Investment in robust diagnostic means and further training of healthcare workers to improve case definition are both urgently required.