Japan, Iceland and Singapore Are The Safest Countries to be Born: 'Every Child Alive' UNICEF
Pakistan is the riskiest country for newborns with out of every 1,000 children born in Pakistan, 46 die at birth.
The United Nations International Children's Education Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday released a report of the challenges of raising children, 'Every Child Alive' including a list of safest and riskiest countries for newborns. The list details issues problems faced by newborns at stillbirth and the reasons attached to it. Meanwhile, a look at the list will show that the difference between the safest and riskiest countries is huge. Pakistan is the riskiest country for newborns with out of every 1,000 children born in Pakistan, 46 die at birth.
The three safest countries for children to be born are Japan, Iceland, and Singapore, as measured by UNICEF. Only 1 in 1,000 babies die during the first 28 days in these countries. UNICEF credits it to their strong, well-resourced health systems, highly skilled health workers, well-developed infrastructure, readily available clean water among others.
Their high standards of sanitation and hygiene in health facilities play a major role in it. Children of these countries at a growing up age have access to public health education combined with very high standards of medical care along with a guarantee universal access to quality healthcare at all ages. Their general standards of nutrition, education and environmental safety are also high. These factors are mainly responsible for very low newborn mortality rates in the countries.
According to the report, babies born in the world's poorest countries, most of which are in Africa still faces alarming risks of death. These threats to a newborn can be 50 times as high as those in richest countries.
The report does not include The United States which has good access to health care. It was marked as the 41st safest country for newborns.
The countries with lowest newborn mortality rates, after Japan, is Iceland (a one in 1,000 chance of death). Iceland has a strong education and healthcare systems. It is followed by Singapore (one in 909), Finland (one in 833), Estonia and Slovenia (both one in 769), Cyprus (one in 714) and Belarus, Luxembourg, Norway and South Korea (all with risks of one in 667).
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 21, 2018 11:59 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).