In line with the celebration of World Breastfeeding Week, The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) strongly campaign for the awareness of the importance of brestfeeding among the mothers and soon to be mothers as they nurture their child with love and nutrition needed in their developing stage. Accoding to studies breastfeeding is directly linked to reducing child mortality especially those vulnerable infants with the age of 5 and below. Despite of that information only 36% of infants under six months old in developing countries are exclusively breastfed. While in the Philippines, only 34% of mothers exclusively breastfeed their babies for 6 months, and the number drops to 2% at one year. One of the factors is the lack of a strong enabling environment that supports breastfeeding mothers.
According to UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake, they need to reach out to all women especially the mothers and let them know the importance of breastfeeding to their growing babies. “No other preventive intervention is more cost effective in reducing the number of children who die before reaching their fifth birthdays.” Lake added.
Breastfeeding gives better nutrients for babies for their survival, growth and development. Supported by scientific evidence it shows that breastfeeding could lead to a 13% reduction in deaths of children under five if infants were exclusively breastfed for 6 months and continued to be breastfed up to two years. Breastfeeding also plays an important role in preventing stunting (low height for age), a condition that can cause irreversible physical and cognitive damage, and which is viewed as a key indicator reflecting inequities in society. Given its critical importance, UNICEF firmly supports all efforts to accelerate comprehensive action to improve breastfeeding rates globally, in every country and with a particular focus on reaching the most disadvantaged and hard to reach populations.
Here in the Philippines, UNICEF partners with the government, private sectors, non-government organizations (NGOs) and breastfeeding advocates and mothers to push on the campaign of spreading awareness on the importance of breastfeeding to children. With the Code Milk campaign created by UNICEF, it aims to promote breastfeeding culture in the country.
UNICEF Philippines will have a month long campaign on breastfeeding with the Department of Health (DOH), World Health Organization, and other government agencies, corporate partners, NGOs and mothers to spread the word about the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding for six months and continued breastfeeding for 2 years and beyond. Aside from the mothers, the campaign will also encourage the whole society especially all the fathers who can contribute in raising awareness about breastfeeding – a natural and nurturing start to life for infants and mothers. It also emphasizes that communication on breastfeeding should take advantage of non-traditional and newer communication tools such as social networking, blogs, mobile phone technology, the arts and flash mobs.
