Wealth Disparity Causing Major Gaps In Some Countries’, Cities’ Maternal, Child Health, Report Shows

News outlets report on the State of the World’s Mothers report published by Save the Children.

The Guardian: British mothers twice as likely to die in childbirth as Polish women
“…The U.K., which has not made the top 10 since 2012, also came behind debt-stricken Greece as well as Spain, Slovenia, and Israel. Norway topped the list while Finland and Iceland came in at second and third. The U.S. is behind the U.K. in 33rd place. The report found that women in the U.S. have a one in 1,800 lifetime risk of maternal death — the worst performance of any developed country in the world…” (Topping, 5/5).

MSNBC: U.S. slips in maternal and child health ranking
“…The State of the World Mother’s Report ranks countries by crunching maternal health (a mother’s lifetime risk of dying as a result of pregnancy or childbirth), children’s well-being (a child’s risk of dying before his or her fifth birthday), overall per capita economic status, and the expected time children will spend in school — an average of 18 years in the top 10, eight in the bottom 10. They also included the representation of women in office…” (Carmon, 5/4).

Newsweek: Washington’s Poorest Infants Are Ten Times More Likely to Die Than Richest
“… ‘In some U.S. cities, urban child survival gaps between rich and poor are greater than those found in developing countries,’ according to the report. … While progress has been made in ending child mortality around the world, enormous gaps in wealth disparity still exist in some countries, which continues to put the poorest children at risk…” (Westcott, 5/4).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Uganda’s capital blazes a trail in cutting child deaths, charity says
“…On a continent known for poor health care and high infant mortality rates, the Ugandan capital is an exception. Child deaths in Kampala fell faster than in any other African city between 2006 and 2011 — despite a large influx of refugees from war-torn neighboring states, Save the Children said in a report on Tuesday…” (Migiro, 5/4).

Wall Street Journal: India Slips Down Motherhood Index
“…India scored 140th place out of 179 countries in the charity organization Save the Children’s 2015 report titled ‘State of the World’s Mothers’ putting it behind Zimbabwe, Iraq, and Bangladesh…” (Sugden, 5/5).

Washington Post: Poor D.C. babies are more than 10 times as likely to die as rich ones
“…The findings, released Monday night as part of the group’s annual State of the World’s Mothers report, underscore how vast income inequality in the capital of the world’s richest country continues to yield startling disparities in health and survival at the neighborhood level. The 80-page global health report, which offered comparative figures for major international metropolitan areas, also ranked Washington last on a list of 25 wealthy capital cities, including Athens and Madrid, which have struggled against economic crises, as well as the capital of a former Soviet republic…” (Hauslohner, 5/4).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

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