The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has harped on the need for Nigerian nursing mothers to embrace exclusive breastfeeding of their infants for the first six months of life to improve the health status of their newborns.
The agency stated that the World Health Organisation (WHO) global target for exclusive breastfeeding is 50 per cent by 2025, while the demographic and health survey indicates that only 28.7 per cent of nursing mothers embrace exclusive breastfeeding in Nigeria.
While addressing the stakeholders at the stakeholder’s engagement with the Association of Infant Food Manufacturers and Marketers in Nigeria (AIFMN), the Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, spoke on the implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes held in Lagos.
She stated that NAFDAC remains resolutely committed to implementing and monitoring adherence to the provisions of the Code as the Agency designated by law for this responsibility in the amendment Decree No. 22 – Marketing (Breast-milk Substitutes) of 1999.
“Exclusive breastfeeding – defined as the practice of only giving an infant breast milk for the first 6 months of life (no other food or water) – has the single largest potential impact on child mortality of any preventive intervention.
“It is part of optimal breastfeeding practices, which also include initiation within one hour of life and continued breastfeeding for up to two years of age or beyond.”
The NAFDAC boss pointed out that exclusive breastfeeding is the best start in life and the cornerstone of child survival and health because it provides essential, irreplaceable nutrition as nature intended for a child’s optimal growth and development.
Adeyeye who was represented by the Director of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FSAN), Mrs. Eva Edwards, stated that inappropriate marketing of breast-milk substitutes contributes to undermining efforts to improve breastfeeding rates and duration.
She said the stakeholders’ engagement with the Association of Infant Food Manufacturers and Marketers in Nigeria (AIFMN) is aimed at fostering fruitful dialogue on the implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.
