Save the Children’s 13th annual “State of the World’s Mothers” report, released Tuesday, “shows Niger as the worst place to be a mother in the world — replacing Afghanistan for the first time in two years,” and ranks Norway as the best place to be a mother, according to a Save the Children press release. “The ranking, which compares 165 countries around the globe, looks at factors such as mothers’ health, education and economic status, as well as critical child indicators such as health and nutrition,” the press release notes (5/8). “In addition to its annual ranking, the charity’s report emphasized the issue of children’s nutrition,” Global News Desk writes, adding that the report “noted that one in four of the world’s children are chronically malnourished or stunted — with little access to proper nutrients” (Diao, 5/8).

“Niger’s current food crisis bears much of the blame for its placing at the bottom of the list, just above Afghanistan, Yemen, Guinea-Bissau and Mali,” the Guardian writes, adding, “The report also found high levels of maternal mortality, lack of access to contraception and poor levels of income relative to men’s” (Walker, 5/7). According to the Independent, “The report cited [malnutrition] as the underlying cause of at least a fifth of maternal deaths and more than a third of child deaths globally” (Hall, 5/8). The report lists “six key solutions” to combat malnutrition, including “regularly breast feeding newborns, … investing in frontline health workers, investing in girls’ education, maintaining better hygiene and supplementing meals with iron folate, zinc and vitamin A,” the Huffington Post’s “Global Motherhood” blog notes (5/8). Save the Children will broadcast a global video conference regarding the report on Tuesday, May 8 at 10:00 a.m. EST, according to the press release (5/8).