Culled from Yahoo

Tuesday May 8 12:02 AM ET
U.S. Falls in 'Mothers' Ranking


WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States is missing from a top 10 index
measuring the status of mothers around the world, mainly because of its
failure to address the health needs of the country's minorities and poor, a
report says.

The United States ranked 11th out of 94 countries on the 'Mothers' Index'
found in a report compiled by the Save the Children foundation. The report
was to be released Tuesday, five days before Mother's Day.

The organization ranked countries on the basis of a mother's access to
health care, use of contraception and family planning, literacy rate, and
participation in government.

``Although maternal health care services in the United States may be
considered among the best available in the world, the discrepancy in access
to these services between white and minority women is a major cause of this
poor showing,'' the foundation said in a summary of its report.

The United States fared worse in the report's ``girls' investment index,''
primarily because of its high teen pregnancy rate. The nation came in 22nd
out of 140 nations and tied with Greece and Hungary.

The U.S. adolescent pregnancy rate has dropped in recent years, but
children born to teens are still more likely to receive inadequate health
care and live in poverty throughout their lives, the report found.

The girls' index was based on a comparison of infant mortality rates,
nutritional status, primary school enrollment and access to safe water.

While the United States is among the richest nations in the world, its
rankings on the two indexes ``clearly show there is room for improvement in
the conditions for the nation's mothers and girls,'' the foundation said in
a summary of its report.

The 10 top-rated countries in which the studies show mothers fare the best
are, in order, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Switzerland,
Canada, Austria, Australia and the United Kingdom.

The 10 countries at the bottom of the 94 are, with the worst first, Guinea
Bissau, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali, Yemen, GAMBIA, Burundi, Mauritania,
Central African Republic and Benin.

The report, among its recommendations, called for increased U.S. funding
for maternal and child health and family planning services.

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On the Net: Save the Children: http://www.savethechildren.org

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