Its dangerous to be a mom in America

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States has scored poorly on a campaign group's list of the best countries in which to be a mother, managing only 28th place, and bettered by many smaller and poorer countries.

Norway topped the latest Save the Children "Mothers Index", followed by a string of other developed nations, while Afghanistan came in at the bottom of the table, below several African states.

But the US showing put it behind countries such as the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; and eastern and central European states such as Croatia and Slovenia.

Even debt-plagued Greece came in four places higher at 24.

One factor that dragged the US ranking down was its maternal mortality rate, which at one in 4,800 is one of the highest in the developed world, said the report.

"A woman in the Unites States is more than five times as likely as a woman in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece or Italy to die from pregnancy-related causes in her lifetime and her risk of maternal death is nearly 10-fold that of a woman in Ireland," the report said.

It also scored poorly on under-five mortality, its rate of eight per 1,000 births putting it on a par with Slovakia and Montenegro.

"At this rate, a child in the US is more than twice as likely as a child in Finland, Iceland, Sweden or Singapore to die before his or her fifth birthday," the report noted.

Only 61 percent of children were enrolled in preschool, which on this indicator made it the seventh-lowest country in the developed world, it said.

And it added: "The United States has the least generous maternity leave policy -- both in terms of duration and percent of wages paid -- of any wealthy nation."

Norway headed the list of developed countries at the top of the list of best places to be a mother, followed by Australia, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

At the bottom was Afghanistan, followed by Niger, Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Sudan, Eritrea and Equatorial Guinea.

"While the situation in the United States needs to improve, mothers in the developing world are facing far greater risks to their own health and that of their children," said Save the Children's Mary Beth Powers.

"The shortage of skilled birth attendants and challenges in accessing birth control means that women in countries at the bottom of the list face the most pregnancies and the most risky birth situations, resulting in newborn and maternal deaths," she added.

Save the Children compiled the index after analyzing a range of factors affecting the health and well-being of women and children, including access to health care, education and economic opportunities.

Thus Norway came top because women there are paid well, access to contraception is easy and the country has one of the generous most maternity leave policies in the world.

Afghanistan however came last because of its high levels of infant mortality and the fact that it had the lowest female life expectancy and the worst rate of primary education for females in the world.

The report recommended more funding for women's and girls' education and better access to maternal and child health care, particularly in the developing world.

In the United States and other industrialised nations, it called on governments and communities to work together to improve education and health for disadvantaged mothers and children.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100504/hl_afp/healthwomenchildrenworld_20100504085825

[Bernie C 24]

Numbers and statistics - how much faith do you put in them. How many variables are they not listing or reporting that could have a significant impact on those numbers they are reporting. It's all a numbers game which can be easliy manipulated by the organization providing the statistics to convey their opinion.

[Peikko 1,575]

Of course, but then again, what could be the motivation of Save the Children? Perhaps, promoting the health and welfare of children? Slimy organization that is!

[Peikko 1,575]

Of course, they are only reporting 'trends' and rates, but those do have a value, and they are not making any outlandish or worrying suggestions to those governments who perform poorly, now are they?

The report recommended more funding for women's and girls' education and better access to maternal and child health care, particularly in the developing world.

In the United States and other industrialised nations, it called on governments and communities to work together to improve education and health for disadvantaged mothers and children.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I like statistics when they prove how I feel, that Australia is the better choice when Tony and I decide to have kids:

"Norway headed the list of developed countries at the top of the list of best places to be a mother, followed by Australia, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany."

Plus my mum will really appreciate being with me whilst I'm pregnant and I'll appreciate her support to. Now I just need to figure out my baby timeline taking into consideration my immigration status... I want to be a USC so I can stay in Aus while pregnant etc and possibly do Tony's Aussie immigration stuff while pregnant/raising the baby

[Obama 2012 1,714]

I like statistics when they prove how I feel, that Australia is the better choice when Tony and I decide to have kids:

"Norway headed the list of developed countries at the top of the list of best places to be a mother, followed by Australia, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany."

Plus my mum will really appreciate being with me whilst I'm pregnant and I'll appreciate her support to. Now I just need to figure out my baby timeline taking into consideration my immigration status... I want to be a USC so I can stay in Aus while pregnant etc and possibly do Tony's Aussie immigration stuff while pregnant/raising the baby

[Susita 175]

"The United States has the least generous maternity leave policy -- both in terms of duration and percent of wages paid -- of any wealthy nation."

Yep.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Yep.

lol.

Why should a business give more time away from work or give more wages for said time away when getting knocked up is ultimately a choice.

[SMR 368]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States has scored poorly on a campaign group's list of the best countries in which to be a mother, managing only 28th place, and bettered by many smaller and poorer countries.

Norway topped the latest Save the Children "Mothers Index", followed by a string of other developed nations, while Afghanistan came in at the bottom of the table, below several African states.

But the US showing put it behind countries such as the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; and eastern and central European states such as Croatia and Slovenia.

Even debt-plagued Greece came in four places higher at 24.

One factor that dragged the US ranking down was its maternal mortality rate, which at one in 4,800 is one of the highest in the developed world, said the report.

"A woman in the Unites States is more than five times as likely as a woman in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece or Italy to die from pregnancy-related causes in her lifetime and her risk of maternal death is nearly 10-fold that of a woman in Ireland," the report said.

It also scored poorly on under-five mortality, its rate of eight per 1,000 births putting it on a par with Slovakia and Montenegro.

"At this rate, a child in the US is more than twice as likely as a child in Finland, Iceland, Sweden or Singapore to die before his or her fifth birthday," the report noted.

Only 61 percent of children were enrolled in preschool, which on this indicator made it the seventh-lowest country in the developed world, it said.

And it added: "The United States has the least generous maternity leave policy -- both in terms of duration and percent of wages paid -- of any wealthy nation."

Norway headed the list of developed countries at the top of the list of best places to be a mother, followed by Australia, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

At the bottom was Afghanistan, followed by Niger, Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Sudan, Eritrea and Equatorial Guinea.

"While the situation in the United States needs to improve, mothers in the developing world are facing far greater risks to their own health and that of their children," said Save the Children's Mary Beth Powers.

"The shortage of skilled birth attendants and challenges in accessing birth control means that women in countries at the bottom of the list face the most pregnancies and the most risky birth situations, resulting in newborn and maternal deaths," she added.

Save the Children compiled the index after analyzing a range of factors affecting the health and well-being of women and children, including access to health care, education and economic opportunities.

Thus Norway came top because women there are paid well, access to contraception is easy and the country has one of the generous most maternity leave policies in the world.

Afghanistan however came last because of its high levels of infant mortality and the fact that it had the lowest female life expectancy and the worst rate of primary education for females in the world.

The report recommended more funding for women's and girls' education and better access to maternal and child health care, particularly in the developing world.

In the United States and other industrialised nations, it called on governments and communities to work together to improve education and health for disadvantaged mothers and children.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100504/hl_afp/healthwomenchildrenworld_20100504085825

My wife's obgyn told us that the main reasons maternal mortality is higher in the US is because of maternal obesity and elective Caesarian sections.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

My wife's obgyn told us that the main reasons maternal mortality is higher in the US is because of maternal obesity and elective Caesarian sections.

In addition there is an apparent trend to schedule a birth around a doctors schedule. The days of an emergency rush to the hospital are over. Instead, there is a pressure on expectant mothers in the US to show on up on a given day and have labor enduced. Its safer to have a baby on nature's schedule.

[alienlovechild 75]

One factor that dragged the US ranking down was its maternal mortality rate, which at one in 4,800 is one of the highest in the developed world, said the report.

And it added: "The United States has the least generous maternity leave policy -- both in terms of duration and percent of wages paid -- of any wealthy nation."

Lousy report that explained nothing indicating why the U.S. would fare lower than expected. The notion put forward that more mothers die because they have less maternity leave doesn't make sense as childbirth itself is the highest risk period not later on.

Same old story only this one speculates on some answers.

"Increasing rates of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure in the United States may account for the greater frequency of preeclampsia and other pregnancy complications, according to the foundation.

Other direct causes of maternal mortality in the U.S. include hemorrhage, embolism, infection and complications from pre-existing medical conditions.

The growing racial and economic inequalities in the health care system could be an underlying cause of maternal mortality in the United States, experts said during the teleconference."

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/335391_maternal13.html

[PhiLandShiR 18]

In addition there is an apparent trend to schedule a birth around a doctors schedule. The days of an emergency rush to the hospital are over. Instead, there is a pressure on expectant mothers in the US to show on up on a given day and have labor enduced. Its safer to have a baby on nature's schedule.

Not always.

My wife had her baby induced but she was over 40 weeks along. Waiting more time to allow nature to schedule the child may well have pushed the birth weight into an unsafe level for my wife as she is a very small person. This would mean a C-section which both of us wanted to avoid.

[sandinista! 1,816]

in the united states, one of the biggest factors in our infant mortality rate is prematurity. we have higher rates of prematurity, though not necessarily because of a lack of medical intervention. those higher rates of prematurity are associated with assisted reproduction-fertility treatments, etc. that have high incidences of multiple births, which greatly ups the prematurity rate. but throwing more money at the problem hasn't helped, and probably won't help in the future either-

no amount of money or resources seems to reduce the rate of preterm births. Take prevention: Of numerous strategies, an inexhaustive list includes enhanced prenatal care, improved maternal nutrition, treatment of vaginal infections, better maternal dental care, monitors to detect early labor, bed rest, better hydration, and programs for smoking cessation. But, as well described in an erudite 1998 review in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers at the University of Alabama, none of these strategies has had a substantial impact on the risk of preterm birth in clinical trials. (Of course, some of them, like better prenatal care, may be good for other reasons.) Despite a doubling of health-care spending as a portion of the gross domestic product since 1981, the rate of preterm birth has jumped 30 percent. http://www.slate.com/id/2161899/

[Peikko 1,575]

Lousy report that explained nothing indicating why the U.S. would fare lower than expected. The notion put forward that more mothers die because they have less maternity leave doesn't make sense as childbirth itself is the highest risk period not later on.

Same old story only this one speculates on some answers.

"Increasing rates of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure in the United States may account for the greater frequency of preeclampsia and other pregnancy complications, according to the foundation.

Other direct causes of maternal mortality in the U.S. include hemorrhage, embolism, infection and complications from pre-existing medical conditions.

The growing racial and economic inequalities in the health care system could be an underlying cause of maternal mortality in the United States, experts said during the teleconference."

http://www.seattlepi...maternal13.html

Why should this report explain anything about why the US fared 'worse than expected'? It's not in the remit of the report to make any judgments as to whether x country performed better or worse than any preconceived expectation of yours, or anyone else's for that matter.

Also, the report does not use maternity as a determining factor on mortality, but as a determining factor in assessing 'quality of life' for children. This is after all a report produced by an organization dedicated to promoting the health and welfare of children - not some political ideology.

You seem to be taking this as a personal affront instead of a useful tool in improving the health and welfare of children - how bizarre is that?

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Not always.

My wife had her baby induced but she was over 40 weeks along. Waiting more time to allow nature to schedule the child may well have pushed the birth weight into an unsafe level for my wife as she is a very small person. This would mean a C-section which both of us wanted to avoid.

I think it is an issue for anyone below 39 weeks. The trend is so severe, I've heard of policies requiring them to wait until week 39.

Lousy report that explained nothing indicating why the U.S. would fare lower than expected. The notion put forward that more mothers die because they have less maternity leave doesn't make sense as childbirth itself is the highest risk period not later on.

Same old story only this one speculates on some answers.

"Increasing rates of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure in the United States may account for the greater frequency of preeclampsia and other pregnancy complications, according to the foundation.

Other direct causes of maternal mortality in the U.S. include hemorrhage, embolism, infection and complications from pre-existing medical conditions.

The growing racial and economic inequalities in the health care system could be an underlying cause of maternal mortality in the United States, experts said during the teleconference."

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/335391_maternal13.html

Where does it link maternity leave to deaths? I don't see it.