As parts of activities to commemorates World Breastfeeding week, stakeholders have called on the need to partner with the Ministry of education to promote breastfeeding in school curriculum from primary six to tertiary institution level.
They made the call on Monday in Abuja, saying that this will help girls to learn from that age that breastfeeding is important so that when they start to have children, the knowledge would be inbuilt .
Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Sen. Ibrahim Oloreigbe, during the 2022 World Breastfeeding Week Ministerial Flag-off symposium, said it will be important to catch them young and be able to sustain and meet the breastfeeding target in Nigeria.
In his words: “This has become necessary because in spite of several years of celebrating world breastfeeding day and all the effort, we not making progress as we should .
“I think we need to ask ourselves the questions, because the last data I saw gave Nigeria’s exclusive breastfeeding at 29,per cent and we have a target of 25 per cent .
“I know we were 17 per cent before but now we have moved but the progress is slow.It means there are certain things we need to do be doing that we are not doing particularly, what I noticed is that we breast feed generally in Nigeria but do we do not do exclusive breastfeeding as much.”
Also, Advocacy Campaign and Policy Manager/survive, Save the Children International, Mr Ifedilichukwu Innocent said the measure would aide in meeting the 50 per cent 2025 targets of the World Health Assembly.
Innocent, who is also the Chairman, Steering Committee of Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CSSUNN), said exclusive breastfeeding protects the baby from infections such as respiratory diseases and diarrhea.
He said it also has economic impact especially on household income, creates a better bond between the baby and the mother and cognitive development for the baby.
“Proper education of the mothers and their caregivers/support systems on the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding can encourage them to practice it.
“The objectives of this year theme is to inform, to anchor, to engage and to galvanise action to support, promote and protect exclusive breastfeeding at individual and organisations levels.
“For breastfeeding to be successful, a mother needs a supportive environment at home, at workplace and religious areas.
“The government should protect, promote and support breastfeeding by enforcing the Breast milk marketing and substitute BMS code to end exploitative marketing of breast milk substitutes,’’ he said.
Innocent also called on employers to encourage exclusive breastfeeding by having corporate policies that support it, provide conducive area for breastfeeding activities and prioritize maternal and paternal rights.
He called for the establishment of crèche to promote breastfeeding among nursing mothers in the work place.
He said that there was need to set up mother and baby areas to ensure that mothers in refugee camps can receive advice, encouragement, and counseling on infant feeding practices.