MONROVIA, Aug. 1 (LINA) – The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) have urged nations and governments to upswing resources to protect, promote and authorize breastfeeding policies and programs.
They say this is especially for the most susceptible families living in hardship amidst global threat to the health and nutrition of millions of babies and children.
As the necessity of breastfeeding is more crucial than ever before, this year’s Breastfeeding Week is observed under the theme: « Step up for breastfeeding: Educate and Support ».
According to the UNICEF and WHO, during emergencies, including those in Afghanistan, Yemen, Ukraine, the Horn of Africa, and the Sahel, breastfeeding guarantees a safe, nutritious and accessible food source for babies and young children.
The observed that it offers a powerful line of defense against disease and all forms of child malnutrition, including wasting.
The call by the two organizations was contained in a Joint statement by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russel and WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedoros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on the occasion marking the World Breastfeeding Week.
Reports have shown that breastfeeding acts as a baby’s first vaccine, protecting them from common childhood illnesses. Yet the emotional distress, physical exhaustion, lack of space and privacy, and poor sanitation experienced by mothers in hardship mean that many babies are missing out on the benefits of breastfeeding to help them survive.
It can be recalled that in early 2022, the Liberian legislature passed an Act to amend the country’s National Public Health Bill so as to regulate the marketing of food and other products that threaten the welfare and health of infants and young children in Liberia.
The Act obligates the Ministry of Health through its Nutrition Division to ensure and/or make a regulatory code on the marketing of breastmilk substitutes.
UNICEF and WHO recorded that fewer than half of all newborn babies are breastfed in the first hour of life, leaving them more vulnerable to disease and death, as such, only 44 percent of infants are exclusively breastfed in the first six months of life, short of the World Health Assembly target of 50 percent by 2025.
The two organizations believe that protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding is more vital than ever, not just for protecting ‘our planet’ as the ultimate natural, sustainable, first food system, but also for the survival, growth, and development of millions of infants.
Based upon these importance of breastfeeding, UNICEF and WHO cautioned governments, donors, civil society and the private sector to step up efforts to prioritize investing in breastfeeding support policies and programs, especially in fragile and food insecure contexts.
The entities also stressed the need for equipping health and nutrition workers in facilities and communities with the skills they need to provide quality counselling and practical support to mothers to successfully breastfeed.
They emphasized the need to protect caregivers and healthcare workers from the unethical marketing influence of the formula industry by fully adopting and implementing the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes, including in humanitarian settings and as well implement family-friendly policies that provide mothers with the time, space, and support they need to breastfeed.
Catherine K Conteh
