The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has expressed concern over the low rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the South South states of Nigeria.
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 investigation has revealed that in some communities mothers who complain that they stop breastfeeding after one month because their breast milk is not enough to continue breastfeeding were neglected mothers.
She said stakeholders, including the media have the responsibility of ensuring that the society returned to the heritage of exclusive breastfeeding through advocacy because of the benefits to the development and overall well-being of children.
“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 life-saver. 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 the most current survey globally, only 41 per cent of infants are exclusively breastfed in the first six months and sub-optimal breastfeeding practices contribute to roughly, 800, 000 child deaths annually. This is on the high side.”
She noted also that various factors discourage some mothers from practising exclusive 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 is the foundation of a child’s survival, stressing that child mortality and illnesses are preventable through exclusive breastfeeding and zero water practices.
She said that the objectives of the media dialogue was to sensitise the public and stakeholders on their roles and responsibilities concerning the protection, support and promotion of breastfeeding as well as galvanizing 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 has the capacity to strengthen political commitment.
“Also you can leverage on your efforts to sensitize other stakeholders to begin to rethink their budgeting process and prioritize key things that are relevant for economic growth. And economic growth without the development of children and youths 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 plays in information dissemination and creation of awareness on issues informed the engagement.
