09 Aug 2015

UNICEF representative ,Ms Vidhya Ganesh has said government should make breastfeeding policy a priority in national development plans, increase resources for programmess that supports breastfeeding and work with the communities and families to promote the full benefits of breast feeding.

She made the call during the Breastfeeding week at Sekgoma Memorial Hospital recently.

Ms Ganesh explained that Breastfeeding helped children to survive and thrive. Also, she said it enables the infants to withstand infections, providing critical nutrients and strengthen the bond between mothers and their babies.

She stated that studies found that infants who were breastfed for at least one year stayed in school longer, scored higher on intelligence tests and earned more as adults than those who were breastfed for only a month.

She said potential impact of optimal breastfeeding practices is especially important in developing country situations with a high burden of disease and low access to clean water and sanitation.

On the other hand, Ms Ganesh said non breastfed children in industrialised countries are also at greater risk of dying, citing a recent study of post-neonatal mortality in United States which found a 25 per cent in mortality among non-breasted infants.

She explained that in United Kingdom , six months of breastfeeding was associated with a 53 per cent decrease in hospital admissions for diarrhoea and 27 per cent decrease in respiratory tract infections.

Despite the growing evidence on the benefits, only 38 per cent of infants around the world today are breastfed exclusively for recommended first six month of life and the figure is even lower in Botswana at just 20 per cent, said Ms Ganesh.

She stated that while breastfeeding rates have increased in all regions of the world, globally progress has stalled. The World Health Assembly, Ms Ganesh said has set a global target of increasing exclusive breastfeeding rates for children less than six months of age to at least 50 per cent by 2025.

She expressed concern that women in informal sector or part-time employment do not benefit from workplace policies that support nursing mothers.

She said these are often the poorest mothers and they face even greater barriers to continued breast feeding. Ms Ganesh said over the years, it has been established that working mothers with adequate maternity benefits including a breast feeding supportive workplace often report increased job satisfaction.  Ends