QUETTA: Health experts have said that breastfeeding can reduce child mortality rate and emphasised the need for creating awareness about its importance.

At a briefing here on Thursday, Dr Naseer Ahmed Baloch, director general of the Directorate of Health, said Balochistan had recorded a high child mortality rate.

He said around 83 infants out of every 1,000 died in the province during the first month of their birth and 111 out of every 1,000 could not reach the age of five because of various diseases.

He said that infants not receiving breastfeeding were at high risk of being infected by different diseases because their immune system had weakened.

He said health department in collaboration with Nutrition Cell, Save the Children and other organisations was observing a breastfeeding week from Oct 23 to 30.

Dr Abid Panezai said that breastfeeding rate in the province soon after the birth was 63 per cent which after a few months dropped to 27pc. Most cases of diarrhoea and other diseases among children were because of bottle-feeding. Diarrhoea was one of the major causes of deaths among children in Balochistan as well as other parts of the country, he added.

Nadeem Shahid, manager of Save the Children’s Advocacy and Campaign section, underlined the need for establishing an infant feeding board and appealed to the media and civil society to play their role in raising awareness about the importance of breastfeeding.

Published in Dawn, October 25th , 2014