The National Food and Nutrition Committee and the Federal Ministry of Health on Friday took its public Place campaign on Exclusive Breastfeeding to public servants and residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja in commemoration of World Breastfeeding Week.
This is even as the Federal government has disclosed that it would soon approve 6 months of compulsory maternity leave for all working mothers across the country.
The awareness campaign, themed: Enabling Breastfeeding: Making a Difference for Working Parents was organised in collaboration with the USAID, ScaleUp Nutrition, Helen Keller International; UNECEF; Gain; Save the Children; Action Against Hunger; Breakthrough Action; World Food Programme and Nutrition International among others.
Speaking on the awareness campaign, the Director, Head of Micronutrient Deficiency Control, Federal Ministry of Health, Chief Uruakpa John said the essence of the campaign was to enlighten the public, especially working mothers on the importance of breastfeeding, because, ‘’when you breastfeed a child exclusively, the immunity of that child is built against disease and infection’’.
He said, ‘’Breastfeeding is significant in the life of every human being, we are all mammals and we are created to breastfeed our babies when they are born. So, when the mother is not there to their babies when they are born, they suffer greatly in terms of growth and proper development because the enablement of immunity and protection from the mother’s breast will not be there.
‘‘So, breast milk is what the whole world is celebrating to encourage our mothers both working class and full-time mothers to breastfeed their children. It is not a matter of breastfeeding; you must exclusively breastfeed your child for you to get the best out of that breast milk. When you breastfeed a child exclusively, the immunity of that child is built against disease and infection.
‘‘If you give a child exclusively breast milk for six months, you have equipped the child nutritionally and by the time you introduce, whole food, complimentary food, the child will be able to grow properly. He will get all the antibiotics and all he needs to survive.’’
‘‘The essence of this campaign is to keep on encouraging our mothers and organization to provide an enabling environment for our mothers to breastfeed. That is why the government in their wisdom has approved 16 weeks of maternity leave and we are pushing for six months. We are getting feelers that it would soon be approved. Even at that, some states have approved 6 months and even giving fathers 2 weeks and they are pushing more, if they can approve 4 weeks they will accept that.
‘‘We are pushing this lately because our women are trying lately, bringing lives, if they did not breastfeed, we would not be here as doctors, workers and journalists, directors, permanent secretaries. We talk about leaders because some of them were not well breastfed and we can see the results.’’
Addressing journalist, Country Director of Nutrition International, Dr Osita Okonkwo, said they were involved in the campaign for exclusive breastfeeding because many working mothers are disfranchised, and sometimes they lose their jobs or may not be allowed to breastfeed because of workplace policies.
And for this reason, he said they embarked on creating awareness for government and private organizations to make it possible for pregnant women, when they return from work, to have access to their children and be able to breastfeed effectively.
‘‘That is why we are here to sensitise the Ministry of Education and other ministries they should create workplace policies that will make it friendly for women to breastfeed adequately.
‘‘Specifically, we want people to see pregnancy and child delivery not as a problem but as the way to go in the sense that we will provide at least 6 months maternity leave for women to be able to breastfeed their children and also for those who have gone to work to see where they can comfortably breastfeed their children. Essentially, exclusively breastfeeding for 6 months and complimentary breastfeeding for 2 years.’’ He further suggested that paid leave and also guaranteeing working mothers job security will be a good incentive for them, which will enable them to do effective breastfeeding.
Also speaking, Lead Midwife for Wellbeing Africa, Princess Usung, said the theme of this year’s celebration is the best so far because mothers are being deprived of breastfeeding their children for 6 months and this has brought a breach between mothers and their babies.
‘It is advisable that policymakers, employers and managers set aside a breastfeeding cubicle for nursing mothers so that during work hours, they can take some time off to breastfeed their children. The importance of breastfeeding cannot be overemphasised as it is easily digestible, and provides nutritional benefits to children.’’
She also advocated for paid leave for at least 6 months for working-class mothers for them to breastfeed their children.
For her, the 16 weeks that have been put in place can be extended for 6 months and for the fathers, he is of the view that they should be given paternity leave to support their wives because it goes hand in hand and collaborative support can always foster optimum breastfeeding for our children.
On her part, Senior Maternal, Newborn Health and Nutrition Adviser to USAID, Angela Samba, said USAID has been engaging in grassroots awareness creation for breastfeeding because behavioural change does not come easy.
‘‘We know that behaviour change is not something that happens overnight, but we are making effort are making with various partners. In the 2018 NDHS survey, it was revealed that the stunting rate was 29% but last year we had a mixed survey which showed us that we had improved from what it was before.
‘‘So, it is showing us that our effort is paying off, we may not be there yet, but we will continue talking about it, through awareness creation. Our efforts are mostly around communities, creating awareness and encouraging people to adopt some of these breastfeeding practices and other health behaviours. We also have other USAID partners that are working around health facilities, system strengthening and policy advocacy to ensure that all of these efforts are geared towards giving the desired result.’’
World Breastfeeding Week holds every 1st-7th of August, every year. The theme is geared towards creating an enabling environment for working parents so that they can breastfeed their children optimally.