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Ethiopia - 84% of Children under-five do not get basic health care - Report

According to Save The Children annual report, there are 11,317,000 children without basic health care in Ethiopia, the fourth highest in the world. India has the largest number of children living without basic health care followed by Nigeria, Bangladesh and Ethiopia.

And in the 2008 Mother's Index rankings as the best and worst place to be a mom, Ethiopia ranks 137th. Ethiopia is ranked as among the 10 worst countries to be a mom.

Ethiopia is at the bottom of the ranking in the Basic Health Care report card for children. 84% of children under 5 in Ethiopia do not get basic health care, the highest percentage of any country in the world. According to the report, there are 13,439,000 children under five year olds in Ethiopia, among these 84% (11,317,000) do not get basic health care.

Among developing countries, The Philippines ranks first in basic health care for children under-five, followed by Peru and South Africa. Today, more than 75 per cent of Filipino children with diarrhea receive rehydration therapy, compared with 15 per cent of Ethiopian children, the report said.

Laos, Yemen, Chad, Somalia and Ethiopia were found doing the worst among developing countries, the report added.

2008 Mother's Index rankings
Best and Worst Place to be a Mom
Bottom 10

2008 Mother's Index rankings
Best and Worst Place to be a Mom
Top 10

Source: Save The Children

Excerpts from the report summary.

Save the Children’s ninth annual Mothers’ Index compares the well-being of mothers and children in 146 countries – more than in any previous year. The Mothers’ Index also provides information on an additional 27 countries, 22 of which report sufficient data to present findings on children’s indicators. When these are included, the total comes to 173 countries.

Sweden, Norway and Iceland top the rankings this year. The
top 10 countries, in general, attain very high scores for mothers’ and
children’s health, educational and economic status. Niger ranks last
among the 146 countries surveyed. The 10 bottom-ranked countries
– eight from sub-Saharan Africa – are a reverse image of the top
10, performing poorly on all indicators. The United States places
27th this year. Last year it was 26th.

Conditions for mothers and their children in the bottom countries are grim. On average, 1 in 21 mothers will die from pregnancy-related causes. More than 1 child in 6 dies before his or her fifth birthday, and roughly 1 child in 3 suffers from malnutrition.

About 50 percent of the population lack access to safe water and
only 3 girls for every 4 boys are enrolled in primary school. The gap in availability of maternal and child health services is especially dramatic when comparing Sweden and Niger. Skilled health personnel are present at virtually every birth in Sweden, while only 33 percent of births are attended in Niger. A typical Swedish woman has nearly 17 years of formal education and will live to be 83 years old, 72 percent are using some modern method of contraception, and only 1 in 185 will lose a child before his or her fifth birthday. At the opposite end of the spectrum, in Niger, a typical woman has less than 3 years of education and will live to be 45. Only 4 percent of women are using modern contraception, and 1 child in 4 dies before his or her fifth birthday. At this rate, every mother in Niger is likely to suffer the loss of a child and 9 out of 10 mothers are likely to lose two children in their lifetime.

Zeroing in on the children’s well-being portion of the Mothers’ Index, Italy finishes first and Niger is last out of 168 countries.While nearly every Italian child – girl and boy alike – enjoys good health and education, children in Niger face a 1 in 4 risk of dying before age 5. Forty-four percent of Niger’s children are malnourished and 54 percent lack access to safe water. Only 47 percent of children in Niger are enrolled in primary school, and within that meager enrollment, boys outnumber girls 4 to 3.

These statistics go far beyond mere numbers. The human despair and lost opportunities represented in these numbers demand mothers everywhere be given the basic tools they need to break the cycle of poverty and improve the quality of life for themselves, their children, and for generations to come.

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