Maternal Mortality Shames Superpower US

[babylonsister]

Maternal Mortality Shames Superpower US
by Haider Rizvi

United Nations - Despite its enormous wealth and highly advanced technology, the United States lags far behind other industrialised countries — and even some developing ones — in providing adequate health care to women during pregnancy and childbirth.

The U.S. ranks 41st in a new analysis of maternal mortality rates in 171 countries released by a group of U.N. public health experts on Friday. The survey shows that even a developing country like South Korea is ahead of the United States.1014 03

“Women are unnecessarily dying from pregnancy and childbirth complications because the U.S. is moving in a wrong direction,” said Beneva Schulte of Women Deliver, a Washington-based group campaigning for women’s reproductive rights and access to public health care.

Based on 2005 estimates, the U.N. analysis suggests that one in 4,800 women in the United States carry a lifetime risk of death from pregnancy. By contrast, among the 10 top-ranked industrialised countries, fewer than one in 16,400 are facing a similar situation.

The reason? According to experts, in many European countries and Japan in the industrialised world, women are guaranteed good-quality health and family planning services that minimise their lifetime risk.

Many independent experts and sympathetic legislators hold the current U.S. public health policy responsible for its dismal record because some 47 million U.S. citizens have no access to health insurance, most of them African Americans and other minorities.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/14/4535/

[aquart]

1. I've always suspected that Republicans hate their mothers.

For good reason, I'm sure.

[Horse with no Name]

2. A society is measured by how it takes care of the weakest members....

we aren't faring so well.

[NYC]

4. Profits over people.

It shows.

[wayfareralibis]

3. absolutely sickening. I saw that yesterday

What I didn't see was a division by race and income/economic status. I bet the wealthy and white Americans have much lower mortality than non white and lower income, which really paints a distrubing picture.

[Igel]

9. That's pretty much the spread.

It's been maybe a year since I looked up the figures.

Blacks have the highest mortality.

Latinos have an unexpected low mortality, but not as low as whites. (I'd say "Latinas", but I'm not willing to let gender distinctions in English spread beyond 'brunet/brunette' and 'blond/blonde'.)

Part's health care, part's apparently not health care per se: perhaps family support, perhaps general health, perhaps something else entirely.

Even controlling for income, you get them ranked the same even though the gaps close. Perhaps the research showing that blacks generally get worse medical advice shows the reason; maybe not.

[BlackVelvet04]

5. They don't care if the women die in childbirth just as

long as they don't have an abortion everything is A ok.

[wayfareralibis]

8. Exactly! Good point

Why don't people wake up?

[City Lights]

6. Bush will soon declare a day "Women's Health Care Day" and the moment

the cameras are off he'll cut funding for women's health care.

This should shame the US Government. But it won't.

Fuck you, George. :nuke:

[indepat]

7. And my 'puke cousin thinks the US is the best place in the world to live notwithstanding having

lost a sibling w/o health insurance in mid-life when adequate medical attention could have been life-saving.

[rockymountaindem]

10. Probably because we provide substandard care to so many people in *every* category

Why should pregnant women get special attention? :sarcasm:

Addressing bits and pieces of this gaping hole in the fabric of our nation is not going to work. We need to make sure *everybody* is covered. Period. Otherwise people of all stripes will continue to fall through the crack.

[Elspeth]

11. Who ranks in the top 5?

?