04 Aug 2021

 Botswana children are not growing to their full potential partly due to low breastfeeding rates, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Edwin Dikoloti has said.

“Stunting is a prerequisite for overweight and obesity, which in turn are risk factors for non-communicable diseases such as cancers, hypertension and heart diseases,” he warned.

Speaking at the ongoing week-long World Breastfeeding commemoration in Gaborone on August 3, Dr Dikoloti said available data painted a daunting picture.

Quoting a 2007 Botswana Family Health Survey, the minister said exclusive breastfeeding for zero to six months old infants stood at 20.6 per cent in the country.

In addition, he said the 2017 Botswana Demographic Survey showed that initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth stood at 65.9 per cent while at age six to nine months, 45.5 per cent of children were still being breastfed.

Dr Dikoloti said there was substantial evidence that infants aged zero to six months who were not exclusively breastfed were seven times at risk of death from diarrhoea and five times from pneumonia.

The minister expressed disappointment that despite the well-recognised importance of breastfeeding, the practice was dwindling in developing countries where the risk of child morbidity and mortality was rampant.

Only 39 per cent of all infants under six months in the developing world were exclusively breastfed, he stated.

 Dr Dikoloti said breastfeeding remained the best way to provide infants with essential nutrients required for growth and development.

“Breastfeeding is safe, clean, and acts as the babies’ first vaccine protecting them against many common childhood illnesses, especially during the raging COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

Its other benefits included helping to boost the immune system, lowering infant mortality rate as well as the risk of developing infections, diabetes, allergy-related diseases and childhood leukemia.

Regarding breastfeeding when the mother was COVID-19 infected, Dr Dikoloti said WHO had asserted that there was no conclusive data about  vertical transmission of coronavirus from nursing mothers to babies.

He stressed that the risk of COVID-19 infection was low in infants and that even if it happened, symptoms were reportedly mild.

However, he said, the consequences of not breastfeeding and separation of mother and child could be significant.

“Breast milk provides antibodies that give babies a healthy boost and protect them against infections including COVID-19,” he stated.

Dr Dikoloti said human nutrition research had over the years made it clear that more must be done to support and protect the breastfeeding practice.

 In Botswana, he said, breastfeeding remained a key element of the Accelerated Child Survival and Development Strategy.

Dr Dikoloti said in order to strengthen, support and protect breastfeeding, government  introduced Marketing of Foods for Infants and Young Children Regulations in 2005.

He said the intention was to control the marketing of foods for infants and young children in order to ensure protection of families and caregivers from misinformation and excessive marketing.

Dr Dikoloti further said his ministry continued to accelerate implementation of Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative started in 1993 in an effort to ensure that all maternity wards became centres of breastfeeding protection, support and promotion.

He said the initiative’s  aim was to establish routine practices proven to support breastfeeding such as supportive policies; training health workers on breastfeeding; sensitising mothers on its benefits and establishing support structures in communities.

Regarding the commemoration, which began August 1 and will end on August 7,  Dr Dikoloti said it offered a perfect opportunity to reflect on the benefits of breastfeeding to the health and lives of babies and mothers.

It was also an opportunity to encourage collaboration among health workers, the community, civil society organisations, non-governmental organisations, private sector and government on the promotion of breastfeeding. Ends