This year Save the Children’s State of the World’s Mothers Report focused on Urban mothers and their children. The findings were not surprising, but a stark reminder that child deaths are occuring at alarming rates around the world. Over half of the world’s population lives in cities and the children in the poorest parts of cities are at the highest risk of dying. The United States was 33 out of 179.
Key findings of this year’s research
1. Inequality between urban children (poor versus upper and middle class) is worsening in too many cities. In almost half of the countries with available trend data (19 out of 40), urban survival gaps have grown.
2. The poorest children in almost every city face alarmingly high risks of death. In all but one of the 36 developing countries surveyed, there are significant gaps between rich and poor urban children.
The urban child survival gaps are largest in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Peru, Rwanda, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. In these countries, poor urban children are 3 to 5 times as likely to die as their most affluent peers.
3. The poorest urban mothers and children are often deprived of lifesaving health care. The ranking finds huge disparities in access to prenatal care and skilled birth attendance.
4. High child death rates in slums are rooted in disadvantage, deprivation and discrimination. High rates of child mortality in urban slums are fueled by a range of factors, including social and economic inequalities. While high-quality private sector health facilities are more plentiful in urban areas, the urban poor often lack the ability to pay for this care – and may face discrimination or even abuse when seeking care.
The most surprising key finding of the report is the infant death rate in Washington, DC.
Among capital cities in high-income countries, Washington, DC has the highest infant death risk and great inequality. Save the Children examined infant mortality rates in 25 capital cities of wealthy countries and found that Washington, DC had the highest infant mortality rate at 6.6 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013.
This is in our country, the capital of our country! Thankfully, organizations like Save the Children are working to lower the infant death rate. Hopefully, they can work with public and private sector medical care providers to help mothers and their children with basic care.
