US scores poorly on world motherhood rankings: charity

In a recent survey done by a campaign groups list, the United Nations were listed as 28th on a list of high maternity rates, and were bettered by smaller and poorer nations.

Norway topped the latest Save the Children "Mothers Index", followed by a string of other developed nations, while Afghanistan came in at the bottom of the table, below several African states.

But the US showing put it behind countries such as the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; and eastern and central European states such as Croatia and Slovenia.

Even debt-plagued Greece came in four places higher at 24.

One of the reasons owing to this low ranking is the high maternity mortality rate,
which at one in 4,800 is one of the highest in the developed world," said the report.

"A woman in the Unites States is more than five times as likely as a woman in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece or Italy to die from pregnancy-related causes in her lifetime and her risk of maternal death is nearly 10-fold that of a woman in Ireland," the report said.

It also scored poorly on under-five mortality, its rate of eight per 1,000 births putting it on a par with Slovakia and Montenegro.


Only 61 percent of children were enrolled in preschool, which on this indicator made it the seventh-lowest country in the developed world, it said.

And it added: "The United States has the least generous maternity leave policy -- both in terms of duration and percent of wages paid -- of any wealthy nation."

I believe that the reason for such a disparity between these nations are due to the quality of life in each country. The high maternity rate in the smaller,poorer countries could be due to the fact that the poor standard of living does not make it seem necessary for their citizens to make earning money their foremost concern. However, a developed nation has a high standard of living. Thus, it would require a higher income in order to survive comfortably in such times. It is then families,and even mothers have to work in order to contribute towards the family's income. This would then put the mothers under pressure-to keep the family out of debt,for example. Contributing factors,like work enviroments and the relatively meagre amounts of maternity leave policy, would increase the pressure felt by the mothers.

Stress has both psychological and physical effects. It is thus my hypothesis that stress has contributed to high maternal mortality rates in the United Nations. Mothers need time to collect and prepare themselves for the stress they would experience from their jobs; yet, they do not have ample time to rest. This, coupled with the new responsibility of having to raise an infant, would considerably increase the amount of stress-thus possibly contributing to a shorter life span.

However, although less advanced nations have high motherhood rankings, they face a shortage of skilled birth attendants and challenges in accessing birth control. This could mean that women in countries at the bottom of the list face the most pregnancies and the most risky birth situations, resulting in newborn and maternal deaths.

In lieu of these results, the United States may choose to lengthen maternity leave for young,or new mothers. This, i believe, would then contribute to a higher maternal mortality rate, thus possibly propelling the United States to a more favourable position in such surveys in the future.