An avoidable baby death or injury is a one where what happened to the baby could have been avoided if one or more contributing factors were not present, and these include (but are not limited to) human error, age and health of the mother, and disease.

In the 1988 study "Avoidable causes of perinatal death at or after term pregnancy in an inner-city hospital: medical versus social", an avoidable cause was defined as a "departure from recognized standards of perinatal care" that contributed to the deaths.

For the purposes of the study, a retrospective analysis was carried out into 174 consecutive singleton perinatal deaths at or after term pregnancy in an inner-city hospital and what was described as "adequate material" was available in 161 cases. The results were as follows:

Avoidable factors were present in 69 of 95 (73%) stillbirths.

Contributing maternal/social and obstetric factors were present in 40 of 69 (58%) and 29 of 69 (42%) cases, respectively.

Avoidable factors were found in 34 of 38 (89%) neonatal deaths.

Contributing obstetric, maternal/social, and pediatric factors were present in 20 of 34 (59%), 12 of 34 (35%), and 2 of 34 (6%) cases, respectively.

In 2003, there was a study - Avoidable stillbirths and neonatal deaths in rural Tanzania - carried out by Sven G Hinderaker 1, Bjørg E Olsen, Per B Bergsjø, Peter Gasheka, Rolv T Lie, Jakob Havnen and Gunnar Kvåle.

The point of the study of 60 stillbirths, 49 early neonatal deaths and 27 late neonatal deaths was to “determine the causes of stillbirths and neonatal deaths in the community in rural Tanzania and to evaluate whether the deaths were avoidable under the prevailing circumstances”.

Infection-related deaths were most common (n = 53), followed by asphyxia-related deaths (n = 32) and immaturity-related deaths (n = 20).

Malaria was the most common infectious agent observed (21 children and 20 mothers).

Twenty-one deaths (15%) were classed as “probably avoidable” and 13 (10%) were “possibly avoidable”.

What was described as a “patient-oriented avoidable factor” was identified in 17 (51%) and a “provider-oriented avoidable factor” was identified in 22 cases (65%).

Twenty-six of the 34 avoidable deaths had risk factors, but only two of the women were aware of it and only one recalled being referred to a hospital for the risk factor.

There were eight deaths among the 133 mothers who experienced a perinatal death.