Govt Urged to Create Enabling Climate for Breastfeeding

Govt Urged to Create Enabling Climate for Breastfeeding. The three tiers of government have been urged to enact enabling  laws and create an environment  for mothers to breastfeed.

According to the Director of Child Health Advocacy Initiative, Mrs. Lola Alonge, the  government should raise awareness, improve maternity laws, enforce crèches in the work place, designate private areas for mothers to breastfeed at work, and prevent aggressive marketing of breast milk substitutes because of the negative effects on the nation.

Mrs Alonge, who wrote the  book, Breasfeeding made easy, said breastfeeding was one of the most cost-effective interventions for newborn health, but the support needed is not always available. There must be policies and structures in place to allow mothers breastfeed successfully.

“Breastfeeding is not just a matter of health; it’s a matter of human capital. Breastfeeding provides short and long term economic and environmental advantages to children, women, and the society. To realise these gains, powerful political support and financial investments are needed to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding. Investing in breastfeeding is an investment in the future of the country,” she said.

According to Mrs Alonge, “Majority of mothers say they want to breastfeed, but while 77 percent start the process, only 16 percent is still exclusively breastfeeding at six months. Lack of support is one of the biggest challenges. Organisations such as Child Health Advocacy Initiative (CHAI) and Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria (PHN) have taken the lead in the country to educate and inform mothers on how to breastfeed successfully through training programmes in communities, primary healthcare centres, and schools. We also engage in advocacy programmes and distribution of information materials and books on breastfeeding.

“It is time for policy makers to step up and recognise that breastfeeding makes countries healthier and wealthier. The growth and development of societies depends on good nutrition. Recent studies show that breastfeeding provides protection against infections, prevents obesity, and improves intelligence in children. And for the nursing mothers, it gives protection against breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and improves birth spacing.

Breastfeeding has also been identified as a high impact intervention to achieve the global strategy for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health (2016-2030), which was launched alongside the Sustainable Development Goals as a roadmap for ending preventable deaths in a generation. Breastfeeding is not the sole responsibility of a woman. Society has a collective responsibility to promote breastfeeding, and to create an enabling supportive environment,” she stated.

By: Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha

The Nation News