Geneva (ABCNIS): The World Health Organization in association with
UNICEF is all set to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week from 1 to 7 August in
more than 170 countries to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of
babies around the world.
It is mention here that WHO organizes
the World Breastfeeding Week every year from 1 to 7 August to commemorate the
Innocenti Declaration made by policy-makers in August 1990 to protect, promote
and support breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding is the best way to
provide newborns with the nutrients they need. WHO recommends exclusive
breastfeeding until a baby is six months old, and continued breastfeeding with
the addition of nutritious complementary foods for up to two years or beyond.
Infants should be exclusively breastfed
– i.e. receive only breast milk – for the first six months of life to achieve
optimal growth, development and health. "Exclusive breastfeeding" is
defined as giving no other food or drink – not even water – except breast milk.
It does, however, allow the infant to receive oral rehydration salts (ORS),
drops and syrups (vitamins, minerals and medicines). Breast milk is the ideal
food for the healthy growth and development of infants; breastfeeding is also
an integral part of the reproductive process with important implications for
the health of mothers.
WHO recommends that infants start
receiving complementary foods at six months (180 days) of age in addition to
breast milk. Foods should be adequate, meaning that they provide sufficient
energy, protein and micronutrients to meet a growing child's nutritional needs.
Foods should be prepared and given in a safe manner to minimize the risk of
contamination. Feeding young infants requires active care and stimulation to
encourage the child to eat.
The transition from exclusive
breastfeeding to full use of family foods is a very vulnerable period. It is
the time when many infants become malnourished, contributing significantly to
the high prevalence of malnutrition in children under five years of age
worldwide. It is essential therefore that infants receive appropriate, adequate
and safe complementary foods to ensure the right transition from the
breastfeeding period to the full use of family foods.
Source: ABC Live
Jatinder Kaur's Views:
Mother and child are interdependent
human beings start from birth to the last day of life, first mother plays all
important role in child life and vice versa in older age of Mother.
The breastfeeding is the best source of
all needed natural feeding for a child till first 180 days of his life to enjoy
rest of healthy life.
WHO by the World Breastfeeding Week
every year from 1 to 7 August to commemorate the Innocenti Declaration is
valuable event to note and to write about it.
Dinesh Singh Rawat Says
Jatinder : First of all thanks for
posting such an informative post on Winning Shot, I as Research Journalist
wants to add some contribution in your worthy post about Innocenti Declaration:
Innocenti Declaration Recognises
Breastfeeding is a unique process that:
Provides ideal nutrition for infants and contributes to their healthy
growth and development Reduces incidence and severity of infectious diseases,
thereby lowering infant morbidity and mortality Contributes to women's health
by reducing the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and by increasing the
spacing between pregnancies Provides social and economic benefits to the family
and the nation Provides most women with a sense of satisfaction when
successfully carried out and that Recent Research has found that: these benefits increase with increased exclusiveness of
breastfeeding during the first six months of life, and thereafter with
increased duration of breastfeeding with complementary foods, and programme
intervention can result in positive changes in breastfeeding behaviour
We therefore declare that:
As a global goal for optimal maternal
and child health and nutrition, all women should be enabled to practise
exclusive breastfeeding and all infants should be fed exclusively on breastmilk
from birth to 4-6 months of age.
Thereafter, children should continue to be
breastfed, while receiving appropriate and adequate complementary foods, for up
to two years of age or beyond. This child-feeding ideal is to be achieved by
creating an appropriate environment of awareness and support so that women can
breastfeed in this manner.
Attainment of this goal requires, in
many countries, the reinforcement of a "breastfeeding culture" and
its vigorous defence against incursions of a "bottle-feeding
culture". This requires commitment and advocacy for social mobilization,
utilizing to the full the prestige and authority of acknowledged leaders of
society in all walks of life.
Efforts should be made to increase
women's confidence in their ability to breastfeed. Such empowerment involves
the removal of constraints and influences that manipulate perceptions and
behaviour towards breastfeeding, often by subtle and indirect means. This
requires sensitivity, continued vigilance, and a responsive and comprehensive
communications strategy involving all media and addressed to all levels of
society. Furthermore, obstacles to breastfeeding within the health system, the
workplace and the community must be eliminated.
Measures should be taken to ensure that
women are adequately nourished for their optimal health and that of their
families. Furthermore, ensuring that all women also have access to family
planning information and services allows them to sustain breastfeeding and
avoid shortened birth intervals that may compromise their health and
nutritional status, and that of their children.
All governments should develop national
breastfeeding policies and set appropriate national targets for the 1990s. They
should establish a national system for monitoring the attainment of their
targets, and they should develop indicators such as the prevalence of
exclusively breastfed infants at discharge from maternity services, and the
prevalence of exclusively breastfed infants at four months of age.
National authorities are further urged
to integrate their breastfeeding policies into their overall health and
development policies. In so doing they should reinforce all actions that
protect, promote and support breastfeeding within complementary programmes such
as prenatal and perinatal care, nutrition, family planning services, and
prevention and treatment of common maternal and childhood diseases. All
healthcare staff should be trained in the skills necessary to implement these
breastfeeding policies.
Operational Targets
All governments by the year 1995 should
have: Appointed a national breastfeeding coordinator of appropriate authority,
and established a multisectoral national breastfeeding committee composed of
representatives from relevant government departments, non-governmental organizations,
and health professional associations
Ensured that every facility providing
maternity services fully practises all ten of the Ten Steps to Successful
Breastfeeding set out in the joint WHO/UNICEF statement "Protecting,
promoting and supporting breastfeeding: the special role of maternity
services".
Taken action to give effect to the
principles and aim of all Articles of the International Code of Marketing of
Breast-Milk Substitutes and subsequent relevant World Health Assembly
resolutions in their entirety;
and enacted imaginative
legislation protecting the breastfeeding rights of working women and
established means for its enforcement
We also call upon
international organizations to:
Draw up action
strategies for protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding, including
global monitoring and evaluation of their strategies
Support national
situation analyses and surveys and the development of national goals and
targets for action;
and Encourage and
support national authorities in planning, implementing, monitoring and
evaluating their breastfeeding policies
The Innocenti Declaration was produced and adopted by participants at
the WHO/UNICEF policymakers' meeting on "Breastfeeding in the 1990s: A
Global Initiative, co-sponsored by the United States Agency for International
Development (A.I.D.) and the Swedish International Development Authority
(SIDA), held at the Spedale degli Innocenti, Florence, Italy, on 30 July - 1
August 1990. The Declaration reflects the content of the original background
document for the meeting and the views expressed in group and plenary sessions.
