MANILA, Philippines – What is a place ideal for mothers? It is where the lifetime risk of maternal death is low and where child delivery is attended by skilled health personnel.

The best place for mothers is where they can plan their family size according to their needs and capabilities, where they and their children can live longer and healthier.

It is where women can obtain education – a lynchpin of improved maternal health and decision-making in the household – as well as earn a decent standard of living, which they use to promote the welfare of their children.

Mothers will thrive where they enjoy benefits at work that allow them to prioritize their role in the home. They will flourish when they can directly influence governance and public policymaking, especially on issues affecting women and children.

Most importantly, the best possible place for mothers is one that nurtures the well-being of their children through health care in the early years, proper nutrition, access to education from the early years to the secondary level, and access to safe water.

These indicators are the basis for the Mothers’ Index, an annual review of maternal well-being conducted by the non-profit organization Save the Children.

It is no surprise that the 10 countries out of 164 nations best able to provide the most conducive environment for motherhood and rearing children are some of the most affluent in the world: Norway, Australia, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Belgium, Netherlands, and France.

Conversely, the 10 countries at the bottom of the index are some of the most impoverished and war-torn: Central African Republic, Sudan, Mali, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Yemen, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, and Afghanistan.

Where is the Philippines in the Mothers’ Index? We are at the bottom half – at 49th place – among 79 countries categorized as less developed.

Our own 2010 Progress Report on the Millennium Development Goals reflects our failings. Our maternal mortality ratio (MMR) has been on the decline since 1990 and was at 162 per 100,000 live births in 2006. However, this has not been falling at a fast enough rate to achieve the goal of reducing MMR by three-fourths by 2015.

Moreover, only 62 percent of births in the country are supervised by a skilled attendant and only 36 percent of women use modern ways of contraception.

With regard to children’s health, our under-5 mortality rate is 33 per 1,000 live births while 26 percent of Filipino children under five years old is moderately or severely underweight for their age.

Save the Children said that 75 years of field experience have proven that the quality of children’s lives undoubtedly depends on the health, security and well-being of their mothers. I can attest to this as my late mother, Juana, was a big influence in my life. My mother and father, Juan, were both nurses trained in the Philippine General Hospital. They returned to our hometown of Baler in 1925. They instilled in me the value of health and the desire to provide it to the neediest.

For mothers, there is nothing more important than their children’s welfare. But evidence reminds us that mothers can only adequately look after their children if they are sufficiently healthy, educated and empowered.

Hence, ensuring the well-being of our larger society entails securing, first, the welfare of the most important women in our lives.

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