New Zealand Can Still Do Better For Mothers and Children says Save the Children, Despite Overall Reduction In Global Child Mortality

Around the world huge gains have been made in reducing the number of children dying before the age of five. Yet millions of newborn babies still die each year from preventable and treatable causes says Save the Children in its annual State of the World’s Mother’s report, released today.

Each year 3 million newborn babies die - nearly half of the world’s under-5 child deaths. The report finds that one million die, or two every minute, die on the day they enter the world, making the first day by far the riskiest day of a person’s life in almost every country in the world.

The report compares first-day death rates for babies in 186 countries. It identifies the safest and most dangerous places to be born. And the annual Mother’s Index ranks 176 countries to show where mothers and children fare best and where they face the greatest hardships. It uses education, levels of women’s income and political status, maternal health and child mortality as indicators.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the toughest place in the world to be a mother and Finland is ranked as the best. New Zealand is ranked 17th on the Index.

New Zealand performs well on education indices, ranking 2nd in the world along with Australia and Ireland. We also rank relatively highly in terms of women's political status. With women claiming 32% of parliamentary seats New Zealand sits at 10th best in the industrialised world.

But New Zealand could do better in maternal health and child mortality. The report finds that women in New Zealand face a 1 in 3,300 chance of dying during pregnancy or childbirth - 4th worst among the 34 industrialised countries included in the Index.

“By investing in mothers and children, nations are investing in their future prosperity. If women are educated, are represented politically, and have access to good quality maternal and child care, then they and their children are much more likely to survive and thrive – and so are the societies they live in,” Save the Children New Zealand chief executive Heather Hayden said.

In terms of survival, New Zealand children fare slightly better than their mothers. At 5.9 child deaths per 1,000 live births New Zealand places 34th on under-5 mortality indices - 5th worst in the industrialised world.

The report is set against a backdrop of significant global reductions in under-five mortality, down from 12 million in 1990 to 6.9 million in 2011. It provides a stark reminder of the challenges still faced by the international community.

“The startling disparities between mothers in the developed and developing world are summed up around maternal risk.  In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which performs poorly across all indicators, a woman or girl in has a one in 30 chance of dying from maternal causes – including childbirth. In Finland the risk is one in 12,200,” said Ms Hayden.

“Huge progress has been made across the developing world, but much more can be done to save and improve millions of the poorest mothers and newborns’ lives,” she said.

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