Prenatal care for women from disadvantaged backgrounds needs speedy improvement, according to a new report by government health inspectors.

There is still too little attention paid to the specific needs of women from deprived backgrounds or different cultural origins, the report, published on Tuesday, says. At the same time, this group has the highest risk of perinatal death.

Inspectors began their research after the publication of figures showing the baby death rate in the Netherlands during late pregnancy and around birth was relatively high.

Improvement

The inspectors say that healthcare providers are now working more closely together and acute care has shown definite improvement. However, in terms of the prevention of premature birth, slow growth and birth defects, not enough has been done.

Women in disadvantaged positions urgently need more supervision in terms of pregnancy advice and help with stopping smoking, the inspectors say.

Midwives

The perinatal death rate in the Netherlands fell by 28% between 2001 and 2012, according to figures from the Dutch midwives’ association published in March.

In total, 1,491 of the 175,000 babies born in 2012 died around the time of their birth, the association said. In two-thirds of cases, the babies were extremely premature and born between 22 and 27 weeks.

The percentage of full-term babies which die within four weeks of birth has halved since 2001, from 3.9 per 1,000 live births to two, the KNOV said.

The Netherlands is considered to have a high perinatal death rate in European terms.