The Alicante Nursing College Calls for Visibility of Gestational, Perinatal, and Neonatal Grief

On the occasion of the International Day of Gestational, Perinatal, and Neonatal Grief, observed every 15th of October, the Alicante Nursing College joins all families who have suffered the loss of a baby during pregnancy or in the early days of life. In this regard, it advocates for the need to provide visibility, recognition, and professional support to a pain that society still tends to silence.

In support of this process, the College has organised, through its Perinatal Grief Working Group, the IV Multidisciplinary Conference on Perinatal Grief Care, held this year under the theme "Accompanying Perinatal Grief, a Task for Everyone." The event will take place on October 30th in the auditorium of the Torrevieja University Hospital.

Additionally, the Alicante Nursing College will collaborate tomorrow, Wednesday, October 15th, Gestational, Neonatal, or Perinatal Grief Day, in the activity "The Footprints They Left Us" at the Palmeral of Alicante from 4 to 8 pm. A space to remember, accompany, and share.

Within the framework of this conference, the Spanish Federation of Gestational, Perinatal, and Neonatal Grief (FEDUP) has presented a Manifesto for "Recognition, Dignity, and Reparation," which denounces the lack of legal and health recognition of these losses and calls for concrete measures in these three areas of action.

This manifesto includes demands such as the creation of a national legal framework that allows for the recognition and registration of all deceased infants regardless of their gestational age, the mandatory implementation of protocols for gestational, perinatal, and neonatal grief care in all public and private hospitals, specialised and mandatory training for healthcare, administrative, and funeral professionals, equitable access to psychological care and emotional support without economic or territorial barriers, and the provision of appropriate spaces in hospitals that ensure privacy, respect, and support during the grieving process.

The Alicante Nursing College joins FEDUP and considers it "essential" that public administrations and healthcare centres integrate comprehensive perinatal grief care protocols, which include both physical and emotional care, and ensure respectful and professional support for families. It also calls for the inclusion of mandatory training on gestational and perinatal grief in the curricula and continuous education of all healthcare professionals.