The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, (UNICEF) has expressed concern over the low rate of exclusive breastfeeding in South South states.
The Nutrition specialist, UNICEF Rivers field office, Mrs Ngozi Onuora, made the assertion on Thursday, in Uyo, during a one-day zonal media dialogue for select journalists, on the commemoration of the 2021 World Breastfeeding week by UNICEF.
Onuora said that investigation had revealed that in some communities, the mothers complained that they stopped breastfeeding after one month because their breastmilk was not enough to continue breastfeeding.
She said stakeholders including the media, had the responsibility of ensuring that the society returned to the heritage of exclusive breastfeeding through advocacy.
She said this was because of the benefits to the development and overall well-being of a child.
“It is everybody’s responsibility to protect children. And I want to tell us that it is a sin for mothers not to practice exclusive breastfeeding, which is the child’s first food as an infant.
‘It is also more sin for us individuals, stakeholders in the society, that are not encouraging mothers to practice exclusive breastfeeding.
“Exclusive breastfeeding has a lot of benefits. Breastfeeding is a powerful lifesaver. It is also critical to the long-term health and well-being of both mother and child.
“Unfortunately, the majority of the world’s mothers, are not able to optimally breastfeed their children.
“In fact, in the most current survey globally, only 41 per cent of infants are exclusively breastfed in the first six months.
“Non-optimal breastfeeding practices contribute to roughly, 800,000 child deaths annually. This is on the high side.
“Various things affect mothers in practising breastfeeding. For example, there are no set- out strategies and supports to encourage mothers to breastfeed.
“There is no enabling environment to ensure that we protect breastfeeding,” she said.
Onuora said that exclusive breastfeeding was the foundation of a child’s survival, stressing that child mortality and illnesses were preventable through exclusive breastfeeding and zero water practice.
She said that the objectives of the media dialogue were to sensitise the public and stakeholders to their roles and responsibilities concerning the protection, support and promotion of breastfeeding.
She said such roles included galvanising governments and donors to invest in breastfeeding programmes.
“There is need to secure new financial policies for national breastfeeding programmes and supportive policies domesticated through advocacy efforts.
“I know that the media have the capacity to strengthen political commitment.
“Also, you can leverage on your efforts to sensitise other stakeholders to begin to rethink on their budgeting process and prioritise key things that are relevant for economic growth.
“Economic growth without the development of children and the youth is zero because the future is not assured,” Onuora said.
Earlier, the Director, Community Health, Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Health, Mrs Margaret Etim, noted that the important role the media played in information dissemination and creation of awareness on issues informed the engagement.
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