Headline May 14, 2015/ ''' THE HEALTH STATUS OF GOD'S WONDER '''

''' THE HEALTH STATUS OF 

GOD'S WONDER '''

O' MOM, -come rise above for the world to see,

And let God, the Heavens and the Universe be,

Then -come below,please, and smile  and  say,

Thy Love's heart  is where you  wish to ever be!

With most respectful and loving dedication to all the mothers, -and the mothers to be. See Ya all on Sam Daily Times -the voice of the voiceless-  and  !WOW!   -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless.

EVERY YEAR, around this time, in many parts of this world, we get to see the same two camps in action. One that finds finds value in celebrating Mother's Day and the other that accuses the first of being captivated by the West-

And in shackles to traditions that have nothing to do with their own. Unfortunately, in this bickering and endless conversation filled with inane arguments that happen every year, we tend to forget the core issue: the health and well being of all the mothers.

The above, opening wonder, comes from Professor Muhammad Hamid Zaman, Howard Huges Medical professor of Biomedical engineering, international Health and Medicine at Boston University.

These days, there are are two kinds of ratings and rankings that we all come across. There are those which are based on opinions of select few and then there are those who are biased on facts.

Some how the ones that are based on opinions, like the recent  ''poll that put Pakistani men among the list of the more attractive most attractive in the world'' tend to captivate us more.

While in principle, as a Pakistani male, I should be very excited, in reality, I could not care less about that. What is far more important to me is the another ranking that came out around the same time. This one based on actual data, and not perception, ranks:

Pakistan 149th amongst 179 countries in the annual ''State of the World's Mothers'' report by Save the Children. This year, the focus is of the report is on the status, health and well being of mothers in the urban area.

To put this in perspective, a few key points are worthy of note. First, Pakistan has slipped from 147 to 149 since last year. In other words, we are worse off than we were a year ago. Second, with the exception of Afghanistan, every single neighbour-

Of ours ranks higher in terms of the state and status of mothers in the country. Afghanistan is just a couple of places behind us. In our Saarc group of nations, Pakistan ranks the lowest in terms of maternal health and well-being.

Third, we may consider ourselves as the rapidly rising Asian Force, but the data tells us otherwise. With the exception of Afghanistan, Maynmar and Yemen, countries with tremendous domestic challenges, we are behind every single country in the entire Asian continent.

The report further states that an increasing number of mother and child deaths are in urban slums. It further states that poor children in in rural areas are twice as likely to die as the rich urban children in Pakistan.

Health disparities are, therefore, worse for less developed parts of the country. For instance, Pakistan sustained a high Maternal Mortality Ratio [MMR] of 276 per 100,000 live births, but in Balochistan the MMR is much higher at 700.

The number of deaths of children under five stands at 85.5 for every 1,000 children in the country, while one in every 170 women in Pakistan has the life time risk of maternal death.

These statistics are alarming. Access to basic healthcare remains a long-standing problem with women often getting only unspecialised care at the time of delivery. At the same time, there remains little awareness on the health impacts-  of early marriage and the issue of population control seems to have been forgotten. 

Pakistan needs to urgently work on these areas as well as the provision of basic facilities such as access to safe drinking water and medication to reduce the number of these very tragic, unfortunate and avoidable deaths.

At present, economic inequality is denying thousands by thousands of women and children the right to life.  The problem lies when we fail to consider half the society as equal human beings.

From those who spew hatred all around, who deny women basic human rights to those supposedly  ''educated ones''  who get threatened by a talented, dedicated and ambitious female colleagues-

The report on the health and well-being of women in Pakistan is just one of the mirrors that reflect reality.  It's time we focused our efforts on saving these lives. 

We have a long way to go before we can consider ourselves worthy of celebrating our Mothers.

With most respectful dedication to the loving memory of Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan.  

With respectful and loving dedication to Mariam, Rabo, Dee, Haleema, Sarah, Paras, Sorat, Anum, Anne, Talat,  Eman, Sana K, Sanyia, Nabia, Fatimah, Nayab, Aqsa, Armeen, Haanyia, Meriam, Areesha, Yasmeen, Uzma,  and

All the Great Girls students of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' The Clean-Up '''

'''Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless