5m newborns miss out on breast-milk benefits, says UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund says more than five million newborn babies are deprived essential nutrients and antibodies that protect them from disease and death because they are not exclusively breastfed. Only one in four of the seven million children born each year in Nigeria are fed exclusively on breast milk in their first six […]

The United Nations Children’s Fund says more than five million newborn babies are deprived essential nutrients and antibodies that protect them from disease and death because they are not exclusively breastfed.

Only one in four of the seven million children born each year in Nigeria are fed exclusively on breast milk in their first six months of life, the National Nutrition and Health Survey showed in 2014.

“We know that the pressure to give water to newborns in addition to breast milk is high. But the stomach of a baby is so small it can barely hold 60 millilitres of liquid and when it is filled with water, it leaves no room for breast milk and its life sustaining nutrients,” said Arjan de Wagt, UNICEF Nigeria Chief of Nutrition.

“Babies who are fed nothing but breastmilk from the moment they are born until they are six months old grow and develop better. Breast milk gives a child a head start in life and a chance to fight child malnutrition later in life.”

It comes amidst growing campaign weeklong to mark Breastfeeding Week.

Only 25 in 100 babies are exclusively fed on breastmilk, up from 12 in 100 over a 10-year period.

Analysts consider the rise in proportion slow, considering Ghana’s exclusive breastfeeding rate now stands at 63 out of every 100 children, up from 7.4 in 1994.

The campaign is backed by research suggesting an exclusively breastfed child is 14 times less likely to die in the first six months than a child not breastfed, according to UNICEF in a statement.

Breastfeeding is also thought to reduce deaths from two major child killers – acute respiratory infection and diarrhoea.

 

Poster child

Five-month old baby Ashfat has become a poster child for exclusive breastfeeding after a support group convinced her mother on the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding.

Her mother Fatimah says she’s only ever fed her daughter on breastmilk.

Ashfat is described as plump, healthy and smooth-skinned. She stands out among babies on Maiduguri’s Dalori camp, the largest gathering of internally displaced people in Borno.

The camp is home to some 30,000 people living in donated tents, a few kilometres outside the city.

Some 50 volunteer community mobilisers (VCM) on the camp help teach mothers about breastfeeding.

Set up by UNICEF, the volunteers are a continuation of a previous project using local women to teach communities about polio and the need for vaccination.

In the wake of Boko Haram insurgency, the volunteers have helped create support groups for lactating mother and pregnant women.

 “There are approximately two thousand five hundred VCMs in Borno state who provide lifesaving information about key household practices like breastfeeding, routine immunisation, hand washing, polio, hygiene and sanitation,” said Gerida Birukila, a communication-for-development specialist with UNICEF.

Birukila coordinates VCM deployment on camps and host communities in Borno.

 

National support for nutrition

A five-year national policy for food and nutrition, expected to last till 2019 emphasises exclusive breastfeeding.

But UNICEF has urged that Nigerian government create a budget line for nutrition.

“Lack of exclusive breastfeeding is implicated in the current high rate of child malnutrition in Nigeria,” noted Jean Gough, UNICEF representative in Nigeria.

“Exclusive breastfeeding is free and breast milk is readily available, so exclusive breastfeeding should be our first strategy in fighting child malnutrition,” she noted.

This week a coalition of health journalists, Media Coalition Against child Malnutrition (MeCAM), backed exclusive breastfeeding as being “more resilient in fighting malnutrition” in children.

MeCAM plans to use journalists reporting, special reports, editorials, opinion pieces and commentaries to bolster support for improved child nutrition.

MeCAM coordinator Remmy Nweke said in a statement, “We all have a part to play in achieving [Sustainable Development Goals] by 2030.”

“The World Breastfeeding Week 2016 theme is about how breastfeeding is a key element in getting us to think about how to value our wellbeing from the start of life, how to respect each other and care for the world we share,” he added.