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FROM THE FIELD

A Mother's Day Report Card 2007: The Best and Worst countries to be a mother
10 May 2007 09:00:00 GMT
 Source: Save the Children - Australia
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Mozambique.. A Save the Children nurse gives an oral vaccination to 2-month-old Milton. (Copyright: Michael Bisceglie, Save the Children US)A Mother’s Day Report Card: The Best – And Worst – Countries to Be a Mother

Expanded Index Now Includes 18 Additional Industrialised Countries
 
Sweden tops list, Niger ranks last,
Australia ranked 5th, up from 7th last year

Save the Children, the world’s largest independent child rights organisation, has released its eighth annual Mothers’ Index that ranks the best – and worst – places to be a mother and a child, and compares the well-being of mothers and children in 140 countries.

Sweden, Iceland and Norway top the rankings this year. Niger ranks last among countries surveyed. The top-10 countries, in general, attain very high scores for mothers’ and children’s health, educational and economic status. The 10 bottom-ranked countries – nine from sub-Saharan Africa – are a reverse image of the top 10, performing poorly on all indicators.  Australia is placed 5th, one behind New Zealand in 4th position.

Conditions for mothers and their children in countries at the bottom of the Index are grim. On average, 1 in 13 mothers will die in her lifetime from pregnancy-related causes. Nearly 1 in 5 children do not reach their fifth birthday, and more than 1 in 3 children suffer from malnutrition. About 50 percent of the population lacks access to safe water, and only 3 girls for every 4 boys are enrolled in primary school.

“If 75 years of field experience has taught us anything, it is that the quality of children’s lives depends on the health, security and well-being of their mothers,” said Margaret Douglas, Chief Executive of Save the Children Australia. “By providing mothers access to education, economic opportunities, and maternal and child health care, we ensure that mothers and their children will have the best chance to survive and thrive,” she said. Read more here

Link Arrow. Arrow (Copyright: International Save the Children Alliance) Download the full media release here  [Adobe PDF, 129 Kb]

For more information please contact:

Sharyn Hanly:  +61 3 9938 2011 or Mob: 0418 560 810
Contact Save the Children Australia Media Centre: +61 3 9938 2000
Email address: media@savethechildren.org.au

Link Arrow. Arrow (Copyright: International Save the Children Alliance)Read other media releases here


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Last updated:Thu May 10 09:37:35 2007