Group advocates 6 months maternity leave
The Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) has begun a push for government to extend maternity leave to six months in efforts to protect maternity and exclusive breastfeeding. Chair of CS-SUNN and president of the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Prof Ngozi Nnam, said the extension “can give mothers leverage to stay home for six […]
The Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) has begun a push for government to extend maternity leave to six months in efforts to protect maternity and exclusive breastfeeding.
Chair of CS-SUNN and president of the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Prof Ngozi Nnam, said the extension “can give mothers leverage to stay home for six months and practice exclusive breastfeeding.”
Fathers will also get 10 days paternity leave to help mothers, but only Lagos state has implemented the extension so far across the country.
Speaking as civil society organisations met for policy dialogue on nutrition in Abuja, Nnam said when six-month extension of maternity leave becomes legalized, “nobody will have an option than to accept it, and we are earnestly looking forward to that policy coming up in Nigeria.”
The push comes as Nigeria launched its health sector component of National Food and Nutrition Policy—a document to guide interventions in nutrition until 2019.
CS-SUNN has called for the National Strategic Plan of Action for Nutrition to be “implemented at every level, with emphasis on maternal and child nutrition.”
Undernutrition contributes to half of all deaths among children aged under five—and poor nutrition within the first 1,000 days can lead to stunting (when a short is too short for their height), according to estimates.
Nigeria’s 11 million stunted children are the largest numbers in Africa and ranks only second globally behind India, attributable to poor nutrition and improper breastfeeding.
“These statistics are totally unacceptable and this brings to the fore the importance of this multi-stakeholders involvement to correct this major health challenge in Nigeria,” said Tanimola Akande, national chairperson of Association of Public Health Physicians.