As the international mother’s day approaches, it has been seen that becoming a mother and a new born child is still quite risky in many countries of the world. According to a survey conducted by the international children’s advocacy group, Norway is the best country in the world to be a mother.
The stunning part of the survey is that US stands at number 25 position in this list on this Mothers Day. The position of US is in between Belarus and Czech Republic. The reasons for US getting number 25 position are maternal death rate, very low preschool attendance and quite low political representation. The other factors which were considered while doing the survey include maternity leave policies, mortality rate among children who are younger than five years old and the ratio of estimated male to female earned income.
Mothers in the US face a death threat of 1 in 2,100 and it is considered highest among the developed nations. The death rate of children below the age of five is 8 per 1000 births. This rate is same as the rate in Bosnia, Slovakia and Qatar.
The “breastfeeding policy scoreboard” has also marked US as quite poor. It stands behind all other developed nations because of their unpaid and short maternity leave policy. The survey has also found that a woman in the US is most likely to die seven times more due to pregnancy related diseases than any other woman in Ireland or in Italy.
But the situation is better if you compare the situation in the countries of Nigeria, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Yemen. In these countries, 1 out of 30 women is expected to die in pregnancy related issues. Every one child out of seven dies before reaching the fifth birthday. About 50% of the mothers and children in these countries do not have access to safe water.
These issues are to be seriously addressed to when the world approaches the celebration of another International Mothers Day.
