Posted on 05/07/2003 7:31:42 AM PDT by anguish
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Investing in Mothers is Vital to Survival and Well-Being of Children, 2003 Mothers' Index Reveals Fourth Annual Index Ranks 117 Countries Where Mothers and Children Fare Best and Worst:
Washington, DC (Tuesday, May 6, 2003) – As Congress debates funding levels for overseas humanitarian assistance for FY 2004, the fourth annual Mothers' Index released just days before Mother's Day by Save the Children, a global development and relief organization, underscores the value of investing in mothers. The Index ranks the status of mothers' well-being in 117 countries, and reveals that where mothers survive and thrive, children survive and thrive. “The Index confirms what 70 years of experience have taught us – the health and well-being of children is directly linked to the health and well-being of their mothers,” said Charles MacCormack, Save the Children president. “More than 10 million children under age 5 die each year - most from preventable causes. Those that survive are often left with few opportunities to realize their potential. By providing mothers with three tools -- education, economic opportunity, and health care, including access to family planning -- we can help them break through the cycle of poverty and improve the lives of their children.”
The Mothers' Index compares the status of mothers in 19 industrialized nations and 98 countries in the developing world based on 10 factors relating to women's and children's health, education and political status. Of the factors studied, the Index identifies a mother's level of education and her access to family planning services as the most strongly associated with infant survival and well-being. For example, in the United Kingdom, where 82 percent of women use modern birth control, only 1 in 5,100 mothers will die in childbirth and only 6 out of 1,000 infants do not make it to their first birthday. Compare this to Guinea, where 4 percent of women use birth control, 1 in 7 mothers die in childbirth, and more than 1 in 10 infants die before reaching age one. The Index also exposes an enormous gap between the highest- and lowest-scoring countries and underscores an urgent need to address this divide. In Sweden, which tops the list, 99 percent of women are literate. Meanwhile, in Niger, which finishes last, only 8 percent of women are literate. And in Iraq, a mother is 35 times more likely to see her child die in the first year of life as is a mother in Sweden.
“At a time when federal funding for global health programs, particularly maternal health, child survival and voluntary family planning programs, is threatened with cuts, we urge the U.S. government and the global community to renew their commitment to the world's mothers,” said MacCormack. “The well-being of children depends on it.” The 2003 Mothers' Index The status of mothers was compared in 117 countries based on six factors of women's well-being (lifetime risk of maternal mortality, percent of women using modern contraception, percent of births attended by trained personnel, percent of pregnant women with anemia, adult female literacy rate, and participation of women in national government) and four factors of children's well being (infant mortality rate, gross primary enrollment ratio, percent of population with access to safe water, and percent of children under age 5 suffering from moderate or severe nutritional wasting). The United States did not place in the top ten because higher-ranked nations, on average, have lower maternal and infant death rates.
More information on the Mothers' Index can be found in the State of the World's Mother's 2003 report, and on Save the Children's web site at www.savethechildren.org.
Save the Children is a leading nonprofit global development and relief organization working in more than 40 countries, including the United States. Its mission is to make lasting, positive change in the lives of children in need. Save the Children is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance, a worldwide network of 29 independent Save the Children organizations working in more than 120 countries to ensure the well-being and protect the rights of children everywhere. # # # EDITOR'S NOTE – Tuesday, May 6, Noon Press Conference in Room 188, Russell Senate Office Building, Capitol Hill, Washington, DC to release the State of the World's Mothers 2003 report and introduce the Women and Children in Armed Conflict Protection Act of 2003. Join Charles MacCormack, president and CEO of Save the Children, along with distinguished guests – Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), actress Sally Field, commentator Cokie Roberts, Kim Phuc, a child war victim, and Lesley Jane Seymour, editor-in-chief of Marie Claire magazine. The 2003 Mothers' Index can be found in the Appendix, page 32, of the State of the World's Mothers 2003 report. |
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They are not reproducing fast enough to replenish their population and are in the process of being overwhelmed by Muslims who sponge off their society by exploiting the Swedes' tolerance and generosity.
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