By Eunice Hilda A. Mensah/Valerie Asare
Accra, Oct.15, GNA – Dr Bernard Okoe-Boye, the Minister of Health, has launched a QR Code to enlighten the public on the Legislative Instrument (LI) 1667 on breastfeeding and to serve as a channel for reporting violations of the LI.
The LI prohibits advertisement of designated products that serve as substitutes for breast milk on televisions, radio channels, bill boards, social media platforms, information centres, mails, and souvenirs.
The designated products include samples of infant formula and ‘follow-on’ or ‘follow-up’ formula, pacifiers and teats, samples of food products marketed for feeding babies aged between zero to six months.
The LI demands that mothers exclusively breastfeed their children for the first six months, and continue while adding complementary or home foods for two years or more.
It also demands that no gifts or samples of products are given to any health personnel and that no manufacturer or distributor of a designated product directly or indirectly provides a fellowship, grant or any financial assistance to health personnel.
The LI also directs healthcare facilities not to promote designated products by displaying them on printed materials that bear the name, logo, or any other description of a designated product in any healthcare facility.
“A label on condensed milk shall have a clear and readable warning that it shall not be used for infant feeding,” it stated.
Dr Okoe-Boye in a statement read on his behalf at the commemoration of the “2024 Breastfeeding Awareness Month” organised by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), said breastfeeding was not a personal choice but a public health priority that reduced the risk of infectious diseases, strengthening the bond between mother and child.
The commemoration in Accra was on the theme: “Closing the Gap: Breastfeeding Support for All.”
He, therefore, called on organisations and their employers to ensure that convenient spaces were created for staff nursing mothers to breastfeed and attend to their babies whenever necessary.
He also advised that they created flexible working hours for them to lessen their stress and enhance their productivity.
The Minister called on husbands to support and encourage their wives to breastfeed effortlessly, while providing them with guidance, advice and general postpartum support.
According to a recent Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, Dr Okoe-Boye said only 53 per cent of new mothers breastfed their babies exclusively, a situation he said had a big gap and needed a collective action.
Dr Delese Mimi Darko, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Food and Drugs Authority , in a speech read on her behalf, said according to a 2017/2018 Survey, published by UNICEF and conducted in partnership with several organisations, 52 per cent of newborns in Ghana were breastfed within the first hour of birth.
Forty-three per cent of infants under six months were exclusively breastfed.
However, the target rates for 2030, she said, were 70 per cent for initiation in the first hour, 70 per cent for exclusive breastfeeding, 80 per cent at one year, and 60 per cent at two years, adding that it was a call to action and a reminder that the work of all stakeholders was far from complete.
While breastfeeding was natural, Dr Darko said it was not always easy, as many mothers had to go through overwhelming challenges in order to balance their career and the responsibility of breastfeeding due to limited maternity leave and dearth of supportive environment at the workplace.
“It is, therefore, crucial to address the gaps that exist in supporting breastfeeding and work towards making the environment more inclusive and supportive for all mothers,” she said.
Due to ignorance of the LI on breastfeeding, the CEO said the FDA came up with a sub theme for the commemoration: “Intensify Awareness, Monitoring and Sanction Regimes of Legislative Instrument (LI) 1667.”
The step is to control the food environment for infants and reduce the violations of regulations such as improper marketing, promotion, or sale of designated products, distribution of free samples and non-compliance with labeling requirements, and practices that have undermined efforts targeted at promoting optimal breastfeeding practices nationwide.
GNA