Pregnancy and baby charity Tommy’s brought its Projecting Life campaign to London yesterday, highlighting the impact of pregnancy loss and the need for more research to save babies’ lives.
The campaign features children and their shadows in different scenarios, always with at least one more shadow than there are living children.
Millions in the UK are touched every year by pregnancy complications and baby loss.
But in a recent YouGov survey for Tommy’s, 53% of respondents said either they ‘would not know what to say’ or ‘would worry about saying the wrong thing’ to a friend, family member or colleague who had experienced a loss.2
Only 12% were ‘very confident’ they would know what to say to someone whose pregnancy ended in loss, or who had a premature baby in need of hospital care.
Tommy’s – the UK’s leading charitable funder of pregnancy research – has developed a guide to help people begin conversations with others who have been affected.
Dr Jyotsna Vohra, Director of Research, Programmes and Impact at Tommy’s, said: “The trauma of pregnancy loss or giving birth prematurely is too often compounded by a sense of isolation and even shame.
“We must end the silence around these experiences, and move further and faster towards our goal of making pregnancy and birth safe for everyone.
“Projecting Life shows very powerfully that children who are lost are never forgotten. It encourages us all to recognise that and to talk about it without fear. Through those conversations and by raising awareness, together we can drive the change needed to save more babies’ lives.”