Fwd: UNICEF URGES STRONG LEADERSHIP TO PROMOTE LIFE-SAVING PRACTICE OF BREASTFEEDING

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From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 1 Aug 2013 13:00:01 -0400
Subject: UNICEF URGES STRONG LEADERSHIP TO PROMOTE LIFE-SAVING
PRACTICE OF BREASTFEEDING
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

UNICEF URGES STRONG LEADERSHIP TO PROMOTE LIFE-SAVING PRACTICE OF
BREASTFEEDINGNew York, Aug 1 2013 1:00PMThe United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) kicked off World Breastfeeding Week today by
calling for strong leadership to promote a practice that is the most
effective and inexpensive way to save a child's life.

"There is no other single health intervention that has such a high
impact for babies and mothers as breastfeeding and which costs so
little for Governments," said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Geeta
Rao Gupta. "Breastfeeding is a baby's 'first immunization' and the
most effective and inexpensive life-saver ever."

Strong leadership is essential, the agency pointed out in a
<"http://www.unicef.org/media/media_70044.html">news release, because
less than half of all children under the age of six months benefit
from exclusive breastfeeding, despite the many advantages it provides
for both children and mothers.

World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated annually from 1 to 7 August in
more than 170 countries to encourage breastfeeding and improve the
health of babies around the world. It commemorates the Innocenti
Declaration made by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) in
August 1990 to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.

Both UNICEF and WHO recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first
six months of a child's life and continued breastfeeding for two years
or beyond.

Children who are exclusively breastfed are 14 times more likely to
survive the first six months of life than non-breastfed children,
UNICEF stated, adding that starting breastfeeding in the first day
after birth can reduce the risk of newborn death by up to 45 per cent.

Breastfeeding also supports a child's ability to learn and helps
prevent obesity and chronic diseases later in life. Recent studies in
the United States and United Kingdom point to large health care
savings resulting from breastfeeding, given that breastfed children
fall ill much less often than non-breastfed children.

In addition, mothers who breastfeed exclusively are less likely to
become pregnant in the first six months following delivery, recover
faster from giving birth, and return to their pre-pregnancy weight
sooner.

Evidence shows that they also experience less post-partum depression
and have a lower risk of ovarian and breast cancers later in life,
said UNICEF.

And yet, only 39 per cent of children aged less than six months were
exclusively breastfed in 2012.

"This global figure has improved very little for the past several
decades, due in part to large countries where the breastfeeding rate
is low and to the general lack of a supportive environment for
breastfeeding mothers," UNICEF stated.

China, which recently attracted media attention because its strong
consumer demand for baby formula caused shortages in other countries,
has an exclusive breastfeeding rate of only 28 per cent, the agency
noted.

To boost such low rates in the world's most populous country, UNICEF
and the National Centre for Women's and Children's Health in May
launched a "10m2of Love" campaign to locate, register, certify and
publicize breastfeeding rooms to raise awareness and support for
breastfeeding.

Cambodia has had notable success in raising exclusive breastfeeding
rates from 11.7 per cent of infants less than six months in 2000 to a
very high 74 per cent in 2010. Togo and Zambia also increased the
rates from 10 and 20 per cent respectively in the late 1990s to over
60 per cent by 2000.

Meanwhile, Tunisia's exclusive breastfeeding rate fell dramatically
from 46.5 per cent in 2000 to only 6.2 per cent by the end of the
decade.

The exclusive breastfeeding rate in Indonesia is declining; Nigeria
has made no improvement over many years; and some of the lowest rates
in the world are in Somalia, Chad and South Africa.

"Such examples reflect insufficient global leadership on
breastfeeding, as it continues to be undervalued relative to its
importance in the life of child," said UNICEF. "There needs to be
higher prioritization and commitment, targeted policies and greater
consensus to engage the world in promoting this life-saving and vital
practice."Aug 1 2013 1:00PM
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