Finland Times

 

President Sauli Niinistö and the first lady Jenni Haukio accorded reception to the award winning mothers at the House of the Estates in Helsinki on Sunday. Photo Lehtikuva.

President Sauli Niinistö on Sunday awarded 35 mothers with the First Class Medal of the White Rose of Finland with golden cross on occasion of the Mother’s Day, news agency STT reported.

 

The president and the first lady Jenni Haukio accorded a reception to the distinguished mothers at the House of the Estates in Helsinki where the relatives of the awarded mothers were also present.

 

News Agency Xinhua adds: Breakfast in bed, flowers, gifts and treats. For many women, Mother's Day is a special and much-anticipated occasion to enjoy rare indulgences.

 

The award given to the Mothers. Photo Lehtikuva.

According to the latest edition of the State of the World's Mothers index compiled by the global charity Save the Children, Finland, which defended its top spot in the 2014 ranking, offers mothers better help in terms of maternal health and well-being of their children.

 

Samia Abdallah, a Tunisian national resident in Finland for nearly three years, is a mother of two boys. Her first son was born in Finland months after she emigrated to join her husband.

 

"I was a bit scared with the first baby. You know you worry about something going wrong, for example," she said.

 

"The hospital service here is excellent, the staff was good and I felt very comfortable," she said.

 

Safety and access to premier health services during childbirth and early infancy aren't the only critical advantages that mothers and young children enjoy in Finland.

 

Finnish society unites wholeheartedly to prioritize access to education, women's opportunities for paid work, with Mother's Day being treated as a public holiday.

 

The President and First Lady enjoy performance of the school schools. Photo Lehtikuva.

The welfare model is particularly supportive for working parents as it offers mothers paid maternity leave for a minimum period of about four months.

 

Fathers are entitled to a total of 54 working days. Moreover mothers can choose to stay at home with their babies until they reach the age of three on extended unpaid leave -- without necessarily losing their jobs.

 

Parents also receive maternity, paternity and parental allowances following births of newborns besides a monthly child benefit for all children below 17, with higher subsidies paid out to single parents.

 

The Finnish Social Insurance Institution Kela is responsible for providing the social security services and benefits designed to ensure the well-being of Finnish citizens and residents.

 

Kela's "baby box" is perhaps one of the organization's best-known maternal subsidies. It's a maternity starter kit supplied to all expectant mothers and contains a range of essentials for baby's first months including seasonal clothing and accessories such as diapers, bedding and child care products.

 

Samia is lucky: the odds of mothers dying during pregnancy or childbirth in Finland are far low, only one in 12,000, while just three children in 1,000 are at risk of dying before the age of five.

 

By contrast, in countries ranked at the bottom of Save the Children's 2014 index, expectant mothers might be occupied by far weightier issues, including humanitarian crises as well as natural and man-made disasters, instead of the joy of pregnancy.

 

The index paints a bleak picture for maternal and infant health in countries at the bottom of the ranking. In those countries -- all but one of them in West Africa -- on average one in 27 women dies from pregnancy-related issues while one in seven children dies before the age of five.

 

"I would say the only problem I had was with the language. I am trying to learn but it's been a bit of a problem," said Samia.