The inequality is enormous: Mothers in select African countries are more than 100 times more likely to have had a child die than mothers in high-income countries.
International inequalities in mothers’ experiences of the death of a child will linger beyond the initial improvement in infant and child mortality conditions, given the varied demographic history of populations. In the seven least affected countries, which includes Japan, Finland, and Spain, fewer than 5 per 1,000 mothers who are between 20 and 44 years old have ever lost an offspring younger than one year old. In Germany, only 6 out of 1,000 mothers have ever lost an infant.
In 34 countries, mostly in Africa, more than 150 per 1,000 mothers have experienced the death of an infant. That means mothers in these countries are more than 30 times as likely to have had a child die than mothers in the seven countries with the lowest numbers. Moreover, in as many as 16 countries–all located in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East–more than 200 per 1,000 mothers have lost an infant.
It is concerning that the very parts of the world where the cumulative burden of child death is heaviest for mothers are also the settings where the least is known about the social, economic, relational, and health implications of child death for mothers. ”We hope that this work will emphasize that further efforts to lower child deaths will not only improve the quality and length of life for children across the globe, but will also fundamentally improve the lives of parents,” said Emily Smith-Greenaway (Researcher at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles and Guest Researcher at MPIDR).
Source: EurekAlert!
Finnish site 
Global site