On Mother’s Day, cold comfort for moms

One of the four key indicators used to calculate the well-being for mothers is lifetime risk of maternal mortality. The US rate for maternal mortality is 1 in 3,500. In Sweden it is 1 in 6,000 and in Norway it is 1 in 7,300. Canada, Australia and all the Western and Northern European countries in the study performed better than the US on this indicator.

Similarly, the United States did not do as well as the top 10 countries with regard to infant mortality rates. The US infant mortality rate is 7 per 1,000 births.

Fewer than 15 per cent of births are attended by trained health personnel in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Nepal.

One woman in 7 dies in pregnancy or childbirth in Afghanistan, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Somalia.

Most pregnant women in India (88 per cent) are anaemic. Fewer than 5 per cent of women use modern contraception in Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, Burundi, Central African Republic and Sierra Leone.

A mother in Iraq is 35 times more likely to see her child die in the first year of life as a mother in Sweden.

Seven of the bottom 10 countries and more than half (13) of the bottom 20, are in conflict or post-conflict situations. (LAT-WP)