A Save the Children report (source) has ranked the Democratic Republic of congo as the worst place on Earth to give birth to and raise children. The charity compared the maternal and child health statistics for 176 countries across the globe.
Shockingly the United States was found to have the highest newborn death rate in the industrialized world. Over 11,000 babies die on the day of their birth each year across the United States, and thousands more lives are lost in the days and weeks immediately following birth.
The charity said that this is partly due to the fact that a high number of babies, 1 in 8, is born preterm in America.
It’s amazing that a country that has such supposedly high health care standards has failed to adequately address the issue of neonatal death.
Here’s how the USA ranks against other countries:
1 – Finland
2 – Sweden
3 – Norway
4 – Iceland
5 – Netherlands
6 – Denmark
7 – Spain
8 – Belgium
9 – Germany
10 – Australia
11 – Austria
12 – Switzerland
13 – Portugal
14 – Slovenia
15 – Singapore
16 – France
17 – Italy
18 – New Zealand
19 – Greece
20 – Ireland
21 – Estonia
22 – Canada
23 – United Kingdom
24 – Czech Republic
25 – Israel
26. Belarus
27. Lithuania
28. Poland
29. Luxembourg
30.USA
Considering the cost of healthcare in the United States and the fact that we lead the world in medical research and development, where neonatal deaths are concerned it seems those things make no difference at all.
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This article was originally published at Ready Nutrition™ on December 13th, 2014
