About ISA

The International Stillbirth Alliance (ISA) was founded 20 years ago in 2003 by three US-based bereaved mothers. They intentionally founded it as a global organization, recognizing that no country was paying sufficient attention to stillbirth, nor providing adequate support for bereaved parents and families.

Since then, the Lancet series on stillbirth from 2011 and 2016 have highlighted the issue of stillbirth and offer a roadmap for eliminating, by 2030, one of the most neglected tragedies in global health today. However, we continue to face enormous barriers to realizing these intentions.

ISA aims to help bridge the gaps in addressing stillbirth and early newborn death within the continuum of maternal and newborn health through collaborations for continued research, education, advocacy, and training on global care standards with a variety of stakeholders and partners. We now have around 250 members, including 54 organizations and 196 individual members, all striving to attain the same goal: ending preventable stillbirth and newborn deaths. ISA does not provide services to individuals; we are working with member organizations to connect people locally and globally so they can learn from one another and thereby improve standards of care within their region.

ISA is a not-for-profit organization recognized in the US as tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3).

Read ISA’s Strategic Plan for 2021-2025.

Some of our highlights from 2022 to help move us closer to achieving our goal include:




  • Development of the ‘Global Guide for Stillbirth Advocacy and Implementation’ in collaboration with a variety of stakeholders supported by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This Guide will be launched at the IMNHC 2023 event in Cape town in May 2023.

  • Supported the development of a UN Joint Technical Brief on Stillbirth in the Middle East/North Africa, now published in English and Arabic.

  • The ISA annual conference was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA from 15-17 September 2022 in collaboration with the University of Utah.

  • Finalization of the COCOON global study on parent experiences during Covid-19 pandemic, including on stillbirth and newborn deaths with publications expected in 2023.

When you support ISA:


  • You help raise awareness about stillbirth and reduce stigma.

  • You bring parents, clinicians, and researchers together to address stillbirth prevention and care in a collaborative way.

  • You support scientific research to ensure effective action to reduce stillbirths and newborn deaths.

If you have any questions, please contact us at info@stillbirthalliance.org