India, Oct. 13 -- Bihar is preparing to roll out the Centre's new guidelines on stillbirth surveillance and response and will implement them through portal-based reporting across its health facilities.

Under the guidelines, a stillbirth is a baby born with no signs of life at 28 weeks or more of gestation. Where gestational age is missing, a birth weight of 1,000 grams or more, or a body length of 35 cm or more, applies.

According to health experts, no robust system existed to record stillbirths and their causes until now. Bihar's stillbirth rate varies across official estimates, ranging from 2 to 4 per 1,000 births in Sample Registration System (SRS) reports for 2022-24.

The SRS 2022 report put the rate at 3, against the national aver...