Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/307854
News MALTA has ranked 41 out of 178 countries in a ranking of the state of mothers worldwide, indexed by international organisation Save the Children. The Mothers Index – which scores countries on mothers' and children's health, educational, eco- nomic and political status – showed that Western countries were falling behind other wealthy countries. According to the index, Malta had an under-5 mortality rate of 6.8 children per 1,000 live births; an expected 14.5 years of school- ing for each woman; and 1 in every 8,900 women risk of dying at child- birth. Together with a $19,570 gross income per capita, and the 14.3% of MPs' seats held by women, Save the Children's Mothers Index put Malta in 41st place for mothers' wellbeing and representation, out of 178 nations. In the US, the risk that a 15-year- old girl will die during her lifetime from a pregnancy-related cause has increased by over 50 per cent since 2000, from one in 3,700 to one in 2,400. American women face the same risk of maternal death as those in Iran or Romania. Of the 178 countries surveyed this year, Finland is the best place to be a mother while Somalia is at the bottom. However, comparisons are most striking when looking at specific indicators. In her lifetime, one Chadian woman in 15 is like- ly to die because of a pregnancy, compared to one Swedish woman in 14,100. And a child in Sierra Leone has one chance in five of not reaching his or her fifth birthday, whereas for an Icelandic child, this risk is one in 435. Afghanistan's progress distin- guishes it from many other conf lict affected or fragile states, which consistently rank at the bottom. "More than half of all maternal and child deaths occur in fragile states or countries affected by con- f lict like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or Afghanistan. The vast majority of mothers' and children's deaths occur because of crumbling infrastructure, lack of access to essential equipment or because of the lack of a skilled health worker during childbirth," Jasmine Whitbread, Chief Execu- tive of Save the Children, said. Countries with fragile institu- tions and conf lict, often combined with natural disasters, are those where mothers fare the worst. Sev- en different countries, including the DRC, Niger, Mali, and Guin- ea-Bissau – all still in the bottom ten – have placed last on the index since it was launched in 2000. Six of these have a history of conf lict and all, except Guinea-Bissau, suf- fered recurring natural disasters over the same period. In the DRC, it is statistically more dangerous to be a woman or a child than it is to be an armed fighter. Armed violence has torn apart the lives of millions of mothers and children in countries like Syria and the Central African Republic, many of whom are displaced inside their country's borders or surviv- ing precariously in neighbouring countries. Evidence of violence against girls and women in Syria is also mounting, with young refugee girls at increasing risk of early and forced marriages in neighbouring countries. maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 7 MAY 2014 +PTFQI.64$"5Æ4JNPO#64655*- 57.QN 12 May, 2014 3FQFBUTBNFFWFOJOH PO57.BUQN Mothers fare the worst in conflict-ridden countries