Being A Mum In The UK – Why Aren’t We In The Top 20?

Have you seen the report by Save the Children’s Mothers’ Index to be presented today (7^th May) at the UN? This story is already going viral and you may wonder why!

The big news for UK mothers is that Britain is only number 23 on the list but still ahead of the USA which come in at number 30. But the UK is not even in the top 20 so this should give us food for thought.

Heaven and hell

The number one spot goes to Finland which looks like a mother’s paradise. Similarly other Scandinavian countries such as Norway and Sweden dominate the top of the list. We will look at why that is so later on.

The worst place on the planet for mothers is The Democratic Republic of Congo at number 176. That is the very last one on the list.

There is a one in thirty chance there of a mother dying giving birth.

Surveys and stats – what can they tell us?

Well, I treat all these surveys with more than a pinch of salt and I bet you do too. But as Save the Children is the world’s largest child charity on the planet, I think we should take this seriously.

We should be more conscious of what the issues are that affect mothers’ lives and what action we take to improve them. It is as simple as that. We can argue about a country’s ranking and how it compares with our neighbours till the cows come home.

Five important factors

So what are big factors that Save the Children homed in on? Are these valid and can they help us to

try and improve lives for both mothers and children? Let us see:-

1. How much of a chance is there that the mother could die during pregnancy or childbirth?

2. What is the actual infant mortality rate? The first day is the riskiest and over 1 million babies worldwide die on that day.

3. How much compulsory schooling is required by the State?

4. What is the average annual income in the country?

5. How many women are elected to political positions?

Finland was at the top in all five of these criteria. For example, the annual income on average in the country is $47,700 and each child will have 17 years of education.

Infant mortality rates.

The big surprise here is the USA which tops the list of industrialised countries for the numbers of babies dying on their first day at 11,300 a year. It is shocking to realize that this figure is actually double the EU figure!

Maternal mortality figures

The high maternal mortality rate is a surprise in the UK. It is one in 4,000 (the same as the United Arab Emirates) and contrasts sharply with that of Sweden where the number is a very low one in 14,100!

It seems that there are many women who are having babies around the age of 45 which is risky. The most alarming figure is that the number of over 45 new mothers has actually tripled over the last ten years. The success of IVF are also a contributing factor.

The question here is – are the advantages of waiting worth the risk? Could we not improve maternity and paternity benefits so that mothers can have children earlier?

Teenage mothers

Similarly those teenage mothers giving birth are at risk. The teenage pregnancies raise questions about sex education and readily available contraception.

Lessons to be learned

Here are the questions we should be asking ourselves and lobbying politicians when necessary.

1. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has raised a red flag in that the quality of care for expectant mothers is very patchy in the UK. The most alarming figure is that some hospitals are twice as better with providing emergency cesareans, induction rates and assisted deliveries than others. That means that it is basically a lottery and will depend on the standards of care at your local hospital. Scary!
2. It is alarming to read that there are about 10,000 women in the UK who suffer from various post stress disorders after giving birth (according to the Birth Trauma Association). That figure jumps to 200,000 women who are trautmatised by the event. More research and funds are needed so that there are better predictors to warn of possible difficult births. More studies need to be done on the nature of contractions- for example the use of bio markers.

3. The government needs to invest more in motherhood and learn a few lessons from the Scandinavian countries where there are excellent maternity and paternity programmes in place.

4. The chances of mortality and trauma go hand in hand with poverty, poor housing and unemployment. The UK is now facing a poverty crisis. At the moment, there are about 3 million poor children and this figure will jump to 4 million by 2020. That is just seven years! When poverty strikes, children are the first to suffer and in many ways are in the front line because of their vulnerability. These figures were released by The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
5. Encourage more men not only to be present at the birth and to attend Daddynatal and Mantenatal classes but also to be much more involved in the rearing of the baby. That would mean increasing paternity leave. In Norway, both parents can have paid leave for a whole year during baby’s first twelve months! Normally though, fathers can take up to ten weeks paternal leave. In the UK, it is a mere two weeks and in November 2012 the Lib Dems lost the battle to have another four weeks added.

What is it really like to be a Mum in the UK? Should we be doing much more to invest in motherhood? Leave your comments below and add any suggestions. Making life better for mums and children is a no brainer for the health of the nation in every sense of the word.

Robert Locke MBE is an award winning author and has written extensively on ADHD and parenting. You can  visit his blog  to find out more.