Breastfeeding is amongst the most effective ways to protect maternal and child health, promote healthy growth and optimal development in early childhood, besides the best investment in saving lives and improving health. This was the crux of daylong media dialogue on the breastfeeding practices which was organized by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (MNHSRC).
The session highlighted the benefits of breastfeeding and its current situation in the country. Further it shed light on the challenges and constraints in practicing the optimal breastfeeding by the mothers in the country.
The interactive discussion featured distinguished guests such as Kanwal Shauzab, Member National Assembly and Parliamentary Secretary Planning Development & Reform, Dr Meher Taj Roghani, Senator from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Dr Abdul Baseer Khan Achakzai, Director Nutrition, MNHSRC.
The panel shared that breastfeeding reduces maternal and child morbidity and mortality and breastfed children have higher intelligence. It is evident that breastfeeding is one of the best investments in saving lives and improving the health, social and economic development of individuals and nations and not breastfeeding results in economic losses of about US$302 billion annually globally.
Breastfeeding is one of the most important public health interventions. It's perfect; entirely natural, 100% nutritionally balanced and completely cost effective.
Breastfeeding has profound benefits for infants that extend beyond childhood, numerous benefits for mothers and benefits for the family. Immediate and exclusive breastfeeding is critical for the achievement of many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It improves nutrition, prevents child mortality and decreases the risk of non-communicable diseases, and supports cognitive development and education. Breastfeeding is also an enabler to ending poverty, promoting economic growth and reducing inequalities. All these are global goals under the SDGs that Pakistan has also committed to achieve.
The NNS 2018 data shows that around 4 to 5 out of every 10 mothers in the country initiate breastfeeding within first hour and exclusively breastfeed their newborns for six months - an inevitable requirement to shield children from many health and nutrition related problems. The panel as well as the audience agreed that more is needed to be done to save children from stunting, wasting and other nutrition-related challenges that they are faced with.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019