NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Pregnancy-related deaths in Ethiopia have fallen by nearly two-thirds, making it the African country that has most successfully lowered its maternal mortality rate thanks to its lifesaving investment in female health workers and girls’ education, Save the Children said on Tuesday.

Ethiopia’s maternal deaths have fallen from one in 24 women dying due to pregnancy in 2000 to one in 67 today.

“For a country beset by natural disasters such as droughts and food shortages, this shows that concerted efforts in tough places work,” Save the Children wrote in its annual report State of the World’s Mothers.

Out of 178 countries included in the report, Save the Children ranks Finland as the best place to be a mother or child and Somalia as the worst.

Ethiopia came in 149^th, faring poorly in indicators such as an average annual income of only $380 per person and only 6.6 years of expected formal schooling.