ISLAMABAD: Supportive facilities such as day-care centres at work and maternity leave for women working in big cities should be provided to promote breastfeeding, the head of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences’ (Pims) gynaecology department said at an event on Wednesday.

Dr Saeeda Batool, while speaking at the conclusion of World Breastfeeding Week 2018 – marked at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) by the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) – said that she avoids attending international health forums because of Pakistan’s disappointing neonatal death rate.

She added: “Lady health workers are key stakeholders in addressing this issue. With appropriate treatment, mothers suffering from HIV and hepatitis B and C can breastfeed their child; we need to address such stigmas through awareness.”

Aida Girma from Unicef said she had high hopes from the new government and praised Prime Minister Imran Khan’s victory speech for its emphasis on children’s stunted growth and nutrition.

World Breastfeeding Week concluding ceremony held

She said legislation regarding child nutrition and the protection of breast milk benefits, and the implementation of these laws at the provincial level, should be a priority.

“Our exclusive breastfeeding rate is only 38pc, which is why there are 44pc stunted children which may lead to the loss of 2 to 3pc GDP. The IQ level of children is also compromised, resultantly our economic generation force would be diminished in a decade,” she said.

PTI Senator Faisal Javed said the previous government had formulated numerous health policies that were never implemented due to a lack of political will.

“Our government has the political will to address health and education on an emergency basis. 100 days of our government will show our roadmap and the Human Development Index is on our agenda’s priority list,” he said.

Parlimentarians made tall claims, said chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Health Senator Mian Attiq, but reports by international organisations show a different story. He said he would work on legislation to ensure maternity leave and nurseries at workplaces to increase the country’s breastfeeding rate.

Dr Baseer Khan Achakzai, the director nutrition at the NHS ministry, said breastfeeding has profound benefits for infants that extend beyond childhood, as well as numerous benefits and mothers and the family.

Beyond the well-documented positive aspects of long-term health and wellbeing, breastfeeding has a beneficial impact on the workplace, the healthcare system and on society, he said. Investing in breastfeeding reduces annual healthcare costs and increases productivity associated with higher intelligence.

During the event, health experts shared research that found that 22pc of newborn deaths could be prevented in breastfeeding is started within the first hour after birth.

They also highlighted that improving breastfeeding practices could save more than 820,000 children around the word in a year.

They quoted various UN reports that stated that infants who are not breastfed are 15 times more likely to die from pneumonia and 11 times more likely to die from diarrhoea than those who are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life.

The PNCA team also performed a short play to promote breastfeeding, featuring a working mother who because of her long working hours and fear of losing her figure did not breastfeed her newborn, who later grew sick and weak. At the end of the play, the woman realised the importance of breastfeeding.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2018