World Breast Feeding Week to be observed from August 1-7
- July 31, 2015, 7:15 pm
- National News
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HQ City Report
QUETTA: The World Breast Feeding Week is being observed from August 1-7 in the province as elsewhere in the country and the world.
Different functions and awareness programmes have been planned by the concerned Health Department marking the Breast Feeding Week in the province.
It may be mentioned here that the World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is an annual celebration which is being held every year from 1 to 7 August in more than 120 countries.
The World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) theme on working women and breastfeeding revisits the 1993 WBW campaign on the Mother-Friendly Workplace Initiative.
World Breastfeeding Week was first celebrated in 1992 by World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) and is now observed in over 120 countries by UNICEF, WHO and their partners including individuals, organizations, and governments.
WABA itself have been formed in 14 February 1991 with the goal to re-establish a global breastfeeding culture and provide support for breastfeeding everywhere.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) emphasize the value of breastfeeding for mothers as well as children. Both recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and then supplemented breastfeeding for at least one year and up to two years or more.
WBW commemorates the Innocenti Declaration made by WHO and UNICEF in August 1990 to protect and support breastfeeding.
This World Breastfeeding Week, WABA calls for concerted global action to support women to combine breastfeeding and work.
With the WBW 2015 campaign, WABA and its partners at global, regional, and national levels (including ILCA) aim to empower and support ALL women, working in both the formal and informal sectors, to adequately combine work with child-rearing, particularly breastfeeding. We define work in its broadest form from paid employment, self-employment, seasonal and contract work to unpaid home and care work.
"If all babies and young children were breastfed exclusively for their first six months of life, the lives of about one million children under five could be saved each year," said Dr Elizabeth Mason, Director of the WHO Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health.
Advantages for adults who were breastfed as infants: are more likely to have lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels and is less at risk of becoming overweight or obese. These adults also suffer less frequently from type-2 diabetes and are more successful in IQ tests and academic careers.
Health benefits to mothers who breastfeed: Reduced risk of breast, ovarian, cervical, and endometrial cancers and of anemia, protection against osteoporosis and hip fracture later in life, helps the mother's body return to its pre-pregnancy state faster - promotes weight loss.
