{"id":35202,"date":"2011-05-08T15:00:39","date_gmt":"2011-05-08T19:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/35202\/worst-places-mother\/"},"modified":"2011-05-08T15:00:39","modified_gmt":"2011-05-08T19:00:39","slug":"worst-places-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/35202\/worst-places-mother\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Are The Best — And Worst– Places To Be A Mother?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Networking By:
\n<\/strong>Advocate for Saving Dogs\u2122<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Photobucket\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Where Are The Best — And Worst– Places To Be A Mother?<\/h4>\n

posted by: Suzi Parrasch<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Where<\/p>\n

I have no idea what my family is planning for me
\nthis Mother’s Day — if anything — but I do know that I am one of the
\nlucky ones. My children get to go to school every morning. I send them
\noff with a nutritious breakfast, and greet them at the end of the day
\nwith a warm meal and a warm bed. They don’t have to worry about violence
\nor civil war when they walk down the street, and we all have full
\naccess to top notch health care.<\/p>\n

Childbirth more dangerous than bullets or bombs<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now consider this: childbirth in Afghanistan is more dangerous today than bullets or bombs.<\/p>\n

According to Save the Children’s<\/a> newest State of the World’s Mothers<\/a> report, which every year ranks the best and worst places to be a mother, Afghanistan falls dead last.<\/p>\n

“Basically 1 in 11 women in Afghanistan will die
\nduring pregnancy or childbirth — that’s about 200 times the risk they
\nare going to be harmed by the conflict in Afghanistan,” says Mary Beth
\nPowers, chief of Save the Children’s newborn and child survival
\ncampaign.<\/p>\n

“What we’re really concerned about as we go into
\nthis budget-cutting session is that we don’t try to balance the budget
\non the backs of poor women and children, in this country or around the
\nworld,” Powers continues. “So it’s a really critical time for people to
\nbe looking at where it’s good to be a mom, and where it’s still
\ndifficult to be a mom.”<\/p>\n

Top to bottom: a stark contrast in life expectancy <\/strong><\/p>\n

So if Afghanistan is at the bottom of the list,
\nwho’s at the top? That honor goes to Norway, where just 1 in 333
\nchildren die before age 5, and women typically complete 18 years of
\nschool. Compare that to Afghanistan, where 2 out of every 5 children are
\nmalnourished and 1 in 5 will die before his or her 5th<\/sup>
\nbirthday. Afghan women average less than 5 years of schooling. As for
\nlife expectancy, Norwegian women typically live to age 83. And Afghan
\nwomen? Try 45.<\/p>\n

Eight out of the 10 top-ranked countries are in
\nWestern Europe. On the other hand, and perhaps no surprise, 8 of the 10
\nworst countries for mothers are in sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n

Where does the U.S. fit into the picture?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The United States ranked 31st<\/sup> out of 44 developed countries this year \u2013 dropping 3 slots compared to last year’s index. Why?<\/p>\n

“One of the key factors and where the United States
\njust doesn\u2019t compete with Europe or Australia or New Zealand is in
\nchild mortality. We still have twice the child mortality rates,” Powers
\ncontends. Believe it or not, the United States’ rate for maternal
\nmortality is the highest of any industrialized nation.<\/p>\n

“We lose more mothers from pregnancy-related causes
\nthan most other countries that ranked really well, and that has to do
\nwith the underlying conditions faced by women often living in poor
\nsituations in the U.S.,” Powers explains.<\/p>\n

Think about it this way: a mother in the U.S. is
\nmore than 7 times as likely as a mother in Italy or Ireland to die from
\npregnancy-related causes and her risk of maternal death is 15 times that
\nof a woman in Greece.<\/p>\n

A child in the U.S. is more than twice as likely as
\na child in Greece, Iceland, Japan, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovenia,
\nSingapore or Sweden to die before turning 5.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the United States has the least
\ngenerous maternity leave policy of any wealthy nation the report found.
\nOn average, a new mother in the U.S. gets 12 weeks of paid leave.
\nNorwegian mothers get close to a year.<\/p>\n

The vital need to invest in mothers and children <\/strong><\/p>\n

“Both developing countries and developed countries
\nreally have to invest in making sure every mother and every child has
\naccess to a skilled health workers,” Powers says of her findings.<\/p>\n

“We need those steps in this country, and we need
\nthose steps around the world. Without that access to basic health care
\nservices during pregnancy and delivery and in the first few months and
\nyears of life, we’re going to lose kids needlessly, and we\u2019re going to
\nlose mothers needlessly.”<\/p>\n

Health care is not the only thing at stake.
\nEducation plays vital role as Powers points out. “Keeping girls in
\nschool longer helps them provide better for their family, mothers can
\ninvest more in their children and in the next generation, and their
\nchildren are more likely to survive for every school year that a girl
\nstays in school.”<\/p>\n

That’s a pretty startling marker, and it doesn’t
\nonly apply to the developing world. Another startling marker: only about
\n58% of American children go to preschool. That number is a lot higher
\nin many developed nations.<\/p>\n

“Until we really invest in making sure every child
\nin the United States gets the best start in early childhood education,
\nwe’re probably going to continue to lag behind our European
\ncounterparts,” Powers claims.<\/p>\n

The news is not all bad<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is some promising news. Powers points to the
\nglobal reduction in child mortality rates as a step in the right
\ndirection. Fourteen of the 15 countries that receive the most
\ndevelopment assistance from the U.S. have shown a palpable decline in
\nchild deaths over the past decade. “So it’s really critical that within
\nthat development assistance budget we prioritize health and education
\nassistance and we’re especially focused on keeping girls in school,”
\nsays Powers.<\/p>\n

My Mother’s Day wish<\/strong><\/p>\n

So what do I want this Mother’s Day? No flowers and
\nchocolates, thank you (not that I expect them). A little bit of extra
\nattention and love would be nice. And I’d really like to sleep in.<\/p>\n

But in all seriousness, considering that an average
\nof 1,000 mothers around the world die each day from complications of
\npregnancy and childbirth — that’s more than 350,000 women — the best
\nMother’s Day gift of all would be to ensure that by next year, fewer
\nmothers die, more mothers get prenatal health care, and more girls have
\nan opportunity to go to school. After all, educating girls is one of the
\nmost effective ways to improve not only the well-being, but the status
\n— economic and otherwise — of women and children the world over. And
\nthat affects us all.<\/p>\n

Take action! Click here<\/a> to sign the petition and support funding for maternal and childhood health around the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Networking By: Advocate for Saving Dogs\u2122 Where Are The Best — And Worst– Places To Be A Mother? posted by: Suzi Parrasch I have no idea what my family is planning for me this Mother’s Day — if anything — but I do know that I am one of the lucky ones. My children get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}