News and Updates

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2009

19 Nov: Third Report to the Minister of Health: July 2008 to June 2009
This is the PMMRC's Third Annual Report to the Minister of Health. The purpose of this report is to provide an accurate estimate of the absolute numbers of perinatal and maternal deaths in New Zealand, to describe the risk factors for perinatal deaths and to attempt to identify where the attention of maternity and neonatal services might best be focused in order to prevent perinatal and maternal deaths.

19 Nov: Media release: Rates of mother and infant mortality in New Zealand released
The Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee, a ministerial committee responsible for reviewing maternal and perinatal deaths (born between 20 weeks gestation and 28 days of age), announced the release of their third report to the Minister of Health today. This highly anticipated report presents one measure of the quality and safety of New Zealand’s maternity services.

9 Oct: ISA and ISPID Joint Conference, Sydney Australia, 8-10 October 2010
Theme: Precious lives: global collaboration in still birth and infant death. Visit the conference website at http://www.isaispid2010.com

9 Oct: Terms of Reference updated

26 Aug: Making Pregnancy Safer: A PMMRC workshop on improving outcomes for New Zealand mothers and babies
When: 9am – 5pm 18 November 2009
Where: Waipuna Lodge, Auckland.

To register go to http://www.makingpregnancysafer.co.nz/ or for further information on the PMMRC Workshop please contact the PMMRC Secretariat.

26 Aug: Panui for Post Mortem Examination, July 2009
This pànui is for whànau, families, parents, kaitiaki and caregivers who are trying to decide whether or not to consent to a post mortem to be undertaken on their baby who has died during the perinatal period.

26 Aug: Meeting Minutes for 4 May

13 Mar: Second Report to the Minister of Health: July 2007 to June 2008
This is the PMMRC's Second Annual Report to the Minister of Health. This report provides an accurate estimate of the absolute numbers and rates of perinatal and maternal deaths in New Zealand, describes the risk factors for perinatal death, and attempts to identify where the attention of maternity and neonatal services might be focused to prevent perinatal and maternal deaths.

13 Mar: Media release: Improved system for reviewing deaths of newborn babies and mothers
Chair of the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee, Professor Cynthia Farquhar, said the report released today presents the most accurate data available on the number of deaths of mothers and babies. It’s been a collaborative effort, with information gathered from Lead Maternity Carers, local coordinators and clinicians from the District Health Boards.

2 Feb: Summary for the Maternal Mental Health Workshop - now available

2008

20 Nov: Perinatal and Paediatric Pathology Service Provision in New Zealand 2008
This report discusses paediatric and perinatal pathology services in New Zealand, and makes recommendations for improvements to perinatal and paediatric pathology services in New Zealand.

link to workshop page.

Nov: Presentations from the Maternal Mental Health Workshop - now available
Presentations from the one-day workshop 'Keeping Mothers Healthy: Improving Maternal Mental Healthcare in New Zealand' held on 29 October, are now available on this website.

Feb: Updated Leaflet: Information about the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee

Feb: Guidelines for the completion of the mother and baby forms following a perinatal death

2007

What's Happened to Baby? by skylight, Sids Wgtn & Sands Wgtn
What’s Happened to Baby? is an inviting, sensitively written and colourfully illustrated picture book for children 3 – 7 years old, who have had a baby die in their family/whānau. It has been designed with the whole family/whānau in mind, and provides a helpful opportunity for parents and caregivers to talk with a young child about this difficult loss. It also features useful notes and information for adults at the back, to assist them in supporting their bereaved child. The text has been carefully designed to fit a wide range of bereavement situations, including miscarriage, stillbirth, cot death, and accidental or natural deaths of an infant or toddler. In this way it has been developed as a book that will be able to serve and support a large number of bereaved New Zealand families. The story is simple, giving young readers clear understanding and reassuring, comforting concepts to carry with them. It also offers plenty of opportunities for adults to talk with their child/children about their own beliefs and any personal thoughts they would like to share. The illustrations, by Ali Teo, and the text combine to very effectively reflect the multi cultural nature of the New Zealand community today. Available from: www.skylight.org.nz

Oct: First Report to the Minister of Health: June 2005 to June 2007
This is the first report to the Minister of Health from this ministerial committee. PMMRC was established in 2005 to advise the minister on prevention of perinatal and maternal deaths. This report describes the setting up of the committee, the process developed to collect information about perinatal deaths and important realted issues such as post-mortems, parental support and issues for Māori.

View the media release: First report from committee looking at deaths of mothers and babies (www.moh.govt.nz)

Fetal and Infant Deaths 2003 & 2004
Annual statistical publication that collates and analyses information on the causes of fetal and infant deaths registered in New Zealand.

View the Fetal and Infant Deaths 2003 & 2004 report on the New Zealand Health Information Service website.

Jul: Report on Maternity: Maternal and Newborn Information 2004
This is the fifth in the series of annual data analysing New Zealand maternity services. It contains information on the outcomes, availability and utilisation of maternity services for women who gave birth in New Zealand in 2004. The report contains data from the Maternity and Newborn Information System (MNIS), the primary purpose of which is to provide information on maternity services. The MNIS currently contains extracts of hospital data from the National Minimum Dataset (NMDS) and data from payment claims submitted to HealthPAC. In New Zealand in 2004, 54,875 mothers gave birth and 55,213 babies were born in hospital

Read the Report on Maternity on the New Zealand Health Information Service website.

Jul: Mortality and Demographic Data
Annual statistical publication that collates and analyses information on the underlying causes of all deaths registered in New Zealand. The commentary summarises key facts, mortality rates, trends and major causes of death by age group, and sex.

View the Mortality and Demographic Data 2002 and 2003 report on the New Zealand Health Information Service website.

Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health: Improving the Health of Mothers, Babies an Children (CEMACH)
CEMACH is planning to hold a series of interactive workshops in the UK on the Maternal Death Enquiry following the launch of the 2003-05 Report in December 2007.
It is intended that these workshops will encourage participants to consider and plan ways in which they can translate findings and recommendations into practice within their area of influence. The Chair of the PMMRC will be attending one of the workshops.

Read the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health on the CEMACH website

International Stillbirth Alliance 3rd Annual Conference: Perinatal loss: Improving care and prevention
29 September -2 October 2007, Birmingham, UK. View the ISA website (www.isa2007.org) for further details.

May: State of the World’s Mothers 2007: Saving the Lives of Children Under Age 5
In commemoration of Mother’s Day, Save the Children is publishing its eighth annual State of the World’s Mothers report (PDF 1.9 MB). The focus is on the 28,000 children under age 5 who die every day from easily preventable or treatable causes and the tragic fact that basic, lifesaving remedies still are not reaching millions of mothers and children in need.

Banner outside Parliament representing New Zealand's stillbirth numbers for 2003.

2006

Dec: Baby Loss Awareness Week
The Committee heard at its meeting on 31 October 2006 that on 9 October 2006, to mark the first day of Baby Loss Awareness Week, representatives of Stillbirth and Newborn Death Support (SANDS) pinned 596 pairs of bootees to a banner representing New Zealand's stillbirth numbers for 2003.

Dec: Information about the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee
An information sheet for health professionals and families about the work performed by the PMMRC.

Page last updated: 19 October 2009