Just in time for Mother’s Day, the charity Save the Children issued its annual report on the best and worst countries in which to be a mother, with a special focus on the issue of newborn deaths. According to the report, mothers in the United States experience the tragic loss of a baby on the day of birth at a shockingly high rate. An estimated 11,300 babies die each year in the U.S. on the day they are born, “50 percent more first-day deaths than all other industrialized countries combined.”
“When first-day deaths in the United State[s] are compared to those in the 27 countries making up the European Union, the findings show that European Union countries, taken together, have 1 million more births each year (4.3 million vs. 5.3 million, respectively) but only about half as many first-day deaths as the United States (11,300 in the US vs. 5,800 in EU member countries),” the report claims.
The report attributes the high rate of U.S. first-day deaths to the high rate of premature births in the U.S., the second highest in the industrialized world and the sixth highest worldwide. There are over half a million preterm births in the U.S. yearly, causing more than 35 percent of newborn deaths.
In addition, the U.S. has the highest rate of teens giving birth among industrial nations. Adolescent mothers tend to be poor and less educated and receive less prenatal care. Policies that limit access to birth control for teens (including restrictions on emergency contraception), and deprive teens of scientifically accurate sexuality education, no doubt contribute to this high rate. Save the Children also notes that racism and poverty are likely contributing factors to the dismal statistics on first-day deaths in the U.S.
For the first time, Save the Children compared the status of mothers in all countries using the same five indicators, instead of comparing developing countries to other developing countries and industrialized countries to other industrialized countries. The five indicators are: lifetime risk of maternal death; under-five mortality rate; expected years of formal schooling; gross national income per capita; and participation of women in national government.
Previous years’ reports placed socialist Cuba at the top of the index list for developing nations, while the United States tended to rank low amid industrialized nations. In the new combined index, the United States ranks 30th on the list while Cuba ranks 33rd. Given the great disparity in resources between Cuba and the U.S. and the five-decades-long economic blockade the U.S. has imposed on Cuba, these very similar rankings speak volumes about the benefits of socialism for the health of mothers and children.
