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The Tragedy Of No Health Care |
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Monday, 15 May 2006 |
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Anyone who doubts the consequences of America's gravely broken health care system should consider this shocking statistic: The United States is one of the worst modern countries for newborn babies' survival rates.
The United States is tied with Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia in second-to-last place on the list of 33 industrialized nations, ahead only of Latvia, according to a new report from Save the Children. Overall in the United States, the death rate among newborns is five for every 1,000 live births, which Save the Children attributes in part to lack of national health insurance and short maternity leaves. But racial and income disparities are also to blame, the report says. Among black Americans, there are nine deaths per 1,000 live births, a rate more common in developing countries. The lowest newborn mortality rate is in Japan, with 1.8 deaths per 1,000 births. In Lativa, the lowest-ranked of modern countries, the figure is six per 1,000. The world's worst country for newborns is Liberia, with 65 deaths per 1,000 live births. The statistics are part of a larger Save the Children report on the health of mothers and infants around the world. Read more at http://www.savethechildren.org/. |
