By Saio Marrah
The Deputy Director of the Food and Nutrition Directorate, Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS), has called on all actors to support women in different ways to optimize breastfeeding, also known as Breastfeeding in the Warm Chain.
Solade Pyne Bailey was speaking at the commemoration of the World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation’s conference Hall in Freetown on Friday, 29th July 2022.
Every August 1st to 7th has been set aside in commemoration of world breastfeeding. The theme for this year’s commemoration is “Step up for breastfeeding; educate and support.”
She said that the health care actors need both pre-service education and regular in-service training to understand mother–friendly care to be able to implement the policy of the health facility and also specific breastfeeding counseling competencies.
Bailey said training on the Breast Milk Substitution Act 2021, is essential to meet their responsibilities under the Act and that they need to know about cultural practices and beliefs, and how they affect breastfeeding practices.
According to her, the health care actors can also provide women and their families with timely and accurate information as well as practical and emotional support to promote optimal breastfeeding.
She also highlighted the role of community actors in the warm chain which include the fathers, grandparents, other family members, academicians, and others.
Bailey said this year’s breastfeeding Week will focus on; preparing, initiating, establishing, maintaining, and protecting breastfeeding.
She noted that breast milk provides all the nutritional and immunological needs for the growth and development of the child, contains the most effective and affordable sources of antibodies, supports a child's ability to learn, and helps prevent chronic diseases later in life.
According to her, breastfeeding is one of the best investments for saving infant lives and improving the health, social and economic development of individuals and nations. She added that it is an essential part of good nutrition, food security, and poverty reduction, breastfeeding addresses the inequalities that stand in the way of sustainable development.
The UNICEF representative, Dr. Hailemariam Legesse, commended the government of Sierra Leone and its partners for the improvement of breastfeeding practices in the country, nothing that 5 in every 10 babies below the age of six months are exclusively breastfed.
He said in West Africa, Sierra Leone is one of the very few countries that has achieved to date the 2025 World Health Assembly target of an exclusive breastfeeding rate of 50%.
Legesse said breastfeeding provides children the best start in life. It is a baby’s best source of nutrition, bolstering brain development with lifelong benefits for the mother and the baby.
Legesse pointed out that early initiation of breastfeeding in the first hour of birth, exclusive breastfeeding from birth to six months of age, and continued breastfeeding up to 23 months of age offers a powerful line of defence against infection and malnutrition.
He however said that infants who are not fully or partially breastfed have a higher risk of diarrhea and are more likely to die from severe malnutrition if they don’t get lifesaving treatments.
He acknowledged that mothers face multiple challenges in continuing breastfeeding in this modern time. He noted that they are also subjected to many pressures to conform and give in to societal and commercial demands.
In 2012, the World Health Assembly Resolution 65.6 endorsed a Comprehensive implementation plan on maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, which specified a set of six global nutrition targets including 50% breastfeeding exclusivity for the first six months of life for 2025.
This was in recognition of the accelerated global action needed to address the pervasive and corrosive problem of the double burden of malnutrition.
Sierra Leone, adopted the breast milk Substitutes Act in 2021, joining other 136 countries with legal instruments to guide the prohibition of aggressive and unethical marketing of breast milk substitutes, feeding bottles, and teats and thereby protect and promote the practice of breastfeeding in the country.
The Chief Executive Officer of Focus 1000, Alhaji Bailor Jalloh, described the first 1 thousand days of human life as critical. He said it started from the nine months of pregnancy, 270 days, to two years which he said is 730 days.
He labeled the 1 thousand days as the foundation for human beings and that one of the key things in those 1 thousand days is exclusive breastfeeding. During that time the child’s bones, and muscles developed, and the brain develops close to 80%.
He noted that other foods for the child-like water may not even be pure; the mother’s hand may not be clean to feed the child, which he said may lead to diseases, but the breast he said is not just specially designed by God but is even a cheaper alternative for the family compared to artificial supplements.
He also called on policy implementers and the media to counter the saying that the substitute for breast milk is as good as the breast milk itself, which he said is not good for the health. He urged men to promote and safeguard breastfeeding.
The Sustainable Development Goal’s target for breastfeeding by 2030 is 80%.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (01/08/22)
