A cross section of over 500 breastfeeding mothers in Cross River state breastfeeding their babies simultaneously for one minute at the ceremony in Calabar on Monday.
By Anietie Akpan
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Cross River State Government, have decried the low rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the state and Nigeria at large.
UNICEF and the State Government made their disapproval known at the Flag off ceremony of the 2024 World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) in Calabar on August 5, noting that such low rate was not acceptable as it falls short of the global target as “breast milk is the only food and drink your child needs for the first six months of life”
Delivering a goodwill message at the ceremony, the Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Enugu, Mrs Juliet Chiluwe said , “in the last 12 years, Nigeria has increased the breastfeeding rate by more than 10 per cent. However, Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF) occurs only among 24 percent of new-borns in Cross River state which is still below the global target of at least 50% by 2025. What this means is that 76% (i.e almost 8 out of 10) of our children between ages 0-6 months are denied the uncontested benefits that come with exclusive breastfeeding”.
She stated that the introduction of water in the first six months of life, “is the major harmful barrier to achieving optimal EBF in Nigeria, and in Cross River state specifically. Hence, if mothers could ensure zero water within first 6 months of the life of the baby, we can rapidly improve our EBF rate to over 50 percent from the current 24 percent nationally and 28 percent at the state level, ahead of the 50 percent WHA global target by year 2025”.
This WBW celebration with the theme: ‘Closing the Gap: Breastfeeding Support for all” according to UNICEF, offers an opportunity for increased awareness on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding (i.e “zero water”, No Food Or Drinks Within The First 6 Months Of Life Of The Baby).
The activity UNICEF said, “is aimed at – amongst others – celebrating mothers in all their diversity from all strata of the society, throughout their breastfeed journeys, while encouraging and showcasing ways families, societies, communities, government stakeholders, partners and health workers can help to remove all forms of barriers and social norms against breastfeeding”.
To meet global target however, UNICEF called for “an increased funding for the implementation of the Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition (MIYCN) strategy in the state so as to support social and behaviour change for appropriate infant and young child feeding”.
UNICEF stressed its happiness to continue to collaborate with the Cross River state government to improve the lives of children and women in the state as “breastfeeding is not only the cornerstone of a child’s healthy development; it is key to achieving sustainable development Goals by 2030”.
Besides increased funding for the implementation of the MIYCN, UNICEF, also called for the “commencing and revitalizing the revised Baby Friendly Initiative in facilities, workplaces, and communities in Cross River State.
“Providing skilled health workers to support mothers to exclusively breastfeed their children at the community level.
“Supporting NAFDAC and relevant agencies to Strictly enforce adherence to the National Regulation on the Code of Marketing of Breast milk Substitutes and relevant World Health Assembly (WHA) resolutions by putting to a stop to the unwholesome marketing of Breast milk substitutes in the State, including digital marketing, with monitoring to report the code violations.
“Collaborate with the religious and traditional leaders to mobilize their followers to support exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and continued breastfeeding with the addition of complementary foods from six months and beyond.
“Ensuring mothers who are at-risk in emergencies or under-represented communities, receive breastfeeding protection and support in line with their unique needs, including timely, effective breastfeeding counselling as part of routine health coverage”.
While flagging off the WBW with the official start of the world record breaking attempt of one-minute simultaneous breastfeeding countdown, the Wife of the Cross River State Governor, Rev Eyoanwan Otu, deplored the low rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the state despite the efforts of the state government.
The State’s First Lady who was represented by Mrs Queen Essien, said, “it is disheartening, as a nutrition champion, to note that despite all the proven health benefits, only 11 percent of babies in Cross River State and 29 percent of babies in Nigeria are breastfed. (NDHS 2018)”.
The research work, she said has also shown that women need adequate time and support to practice optimal breastfeeding, hence it, “is therefore imperative for us, as Government at all levels, to focus on ensuring that pregnant women and caregivers of children less than two years of age benefit from social protection measures to support appropriate, respectful, and safe maternity services and recommended infant and young child feeding practices, thus enhancing baby/mother bonding without necessarily affecting their jobs adversely”.
In attempting to close the gap, break the record , break barriers and making breastfeeding support for all, Rev Otu pointed out that the state government has recorded these achievements which include: Pronouncement and implementation of six months paid maternity leave for mothers working in the state civil service. (As against the previous three months).
Establishment of nutrition departments across the MDA’s, including planning and budget commission, creating of budget lines and release of budget for these MDA’s to implement nutrition interventions.
And creating enabling environment for development partners who have been instrumental in both technical and financial support and ensuring that cross river state scale up optimal nutrition interventions to mothers, children and communities.
On her part, Director General of the State Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA), Dr Vivian Mesembe Otu said her agency will encourage communities to foster on breastfeeding culture through awareness campaign and social support network.
“We will enhance healthcare system to provide comprehensive maternal and child care services including robust breastfeeding support, collaborate with policy makers to enact legislation and policies that promote breastfeeding”, she added.
Part of this years’ ceremony was also to observe a world record breaking attempt towards achieving the world record for “the most lactating women breastfeeding simultaneously”, targeting 30,000 women breastfeeding simultaneously across 36 and Abuja and in Cross River, over 500 breastfeeding mothers present at the venue of the ceremony breastfed their babies simultaneously for one minute.
