Turkey: Report highlights state of children's health

Children in Turkey and the Balkans are living healthier and happier lives thanks to improvements in health services and civil society engagement.

That's one conclusion from a statement published formerly this month by the international NGO Save the Children. The group assessed maternal health, education, child mortality and gain in 176 nations to paint a general picture of children's rights in the world. The 10 worst nations to be a mother are amount in sub-Saharan Africa, while Finland is the best, according to the statement.

Turkey ranked 60th on the index, with the statement crediting Ankara for evolution in children's health.

"Turkey, an upper middle-gain country, has reduced newborn mortality by 69 % since 1990. The transformation of Turkey's health system over the completed decade has been comprehensive, with reforms aimed at mothers and newborns playing a central role," the statement states.

About 15 children of amount 1,000 children born in Turkey die formerly their fifth birthday. Three of 1,000 die on their prime day.

Lilia Jelamschi, chief of the Health and Nutrition Section at the Turkey branch of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), as well praised Turkey's evolution.

"Turkey's Under-5 mortality rate [as of] 2009 was reduced by 76 % over 1990 levels," she said.

Romania weighed in at 61st place on Save the Children's world rankings, behind Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina and ahead of Albania and Moldova, with an infant mortality rate of three per 1,000 births. Romania has the highest infant mortality rate part EU nations.

Ana Maita, founder and president of the Romanian civil society group Mothers for Mothers, said adherence to international standards would help Romania improve its record on children's health.

"The reasons for this sad situation are clear: poor health education, lack of access to maternity healthcare services and the failure of healthcare authorities to implement basic World Health Organisation recommendations regarding pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding," Maita said.

International and local organisations have informed the Romanian authorities about simple, cost-effective and efficient strategies to improve maternity care. Their recommendations include subsidised prenatal courses, professional empowerment of midwifery, and promotion of normal birth and breastfeeding, according to Maita.

"The authorities have until presently failed to integrate these strategies in national healthcare policies because of political instability and the medical establishment's resistance to change," Maita said.

Macedonia came in at 40th of 176 nations in the statement, an development of two ranks compared to last year.

"This shows that the conditions for pregnant women and mothers, inclunding the system for monitoring the extremely vulnerable groups is satisfying and improving," Denis Al Khalili, president of the Lulka NGO, which provides women with education during pregnancy and childbirth, said.

"Measures to protect pregnant women and mothers during their employment, activities to promote gender equality, together with measures of health authorities for renovation, equipping and training of staff in the segment of gynaecological-obstetric, paediatric, and intensive neonatal care have resulted in improved conditions, timely and high quality care for mothers formerly and next delivery and proper care of her baby."

Serbia placed at the 36th on Save the Children's rankings, with an infant mortality rate of 7.1 per 1,000 live births.

"Serbia has the system for mortality prevention but it should be improved through additional education means for home visiting service workers inclunding for those who work within the services for social work," Sasa Stefanovic, a co-ordinator at the For Children civil society group,said.

Stefanovic added that home-based health services and better healthcare provision in poor neighbourhoods would enable further evolution.

"At the same time as it comes to protection of children, there are five prior areas and purposes: reduce poverty, increase the quality of health protection, provide amount children with a quality education, protect them from violence, and reduce the cost of treatment," he said.

Save the Children as well highlighted the importance of reducing gain inequality for children's health.

"At the heart of the newborn survival problem is the widening gap between the health of the world's rich and poor. Virtually amount (98 %) newborn deaths occur in developing nations, and within a lot of of these nations, babies born to the poorest families have a much higher risk," the statement states.

Severine Jacomy-Vite, chief of the Child Protection Section at UNICEF Turkey, said empowerment and equality lie at the core of any long-term solution.

"What may need to be done further is to empower amount girls from a young age and give them equal access to quality services and data so that they will be in a position to make the right decisions for themselves and their baby at the same time as they become mothers," Jacomy-Vité said.

Correspondents Marina Stojanovska in Skopje, Paul Ciocoiu in Bucharest and Ivana Jovanovic in Belgrade contributed to this statement.