Uganda 3rd best for mothers

By Raymond Baguma
UGANDA is the third best country to live in as a mother among 34 least developed countries, according to the 9th annual State of the World Mothers’ report.

The report, released by international children’s charity, Save the Children ahead of International Mother’s Day yesterday, also compares the welfare of mothers and children in 146 countries.

Maldives, a small Indian Ocean island state, led the pack, while the worst place for mothers was Niger, according to the report. The ranking was based on performance of the sampled countries against a set of indicators that measures a mother’s wellbeing in terms of health, education, child welfare and political and economic status.

A statement issued on Saturday by Save the Children in Uganda, said Uganda performed best on education and the economic and political status of mothers compared to other countries.

However, the mother’s health status, just like in other least developed countries, remained poor. Only 42% of mothers are cared for by a skilled health worker and a woman’s chance of death during childbirth were high at 1 in 25, compared to 1 in 17,400 in Sweden which performed best overall, the report showed.

The study also focused on how well the countries give children basic health care. This care in the report is defined by low-cost life saving interventions such as care during pregnancy, childbirth, immunisation, treatment of diarrhoea and chest infections. “Using existing, low-cost tools and knowledge, we could save more than 6 out of 10 children who die every year from easily preventable or treatable causes,” reads the report.

Save the Children country director Helene Andersson, called for health care programs to target the poorest and most marginalised mothers and children.

This article was published in The New Vision on Monday 12th May 2008