By Solomon Gumah
Tamale, August 4, GNA – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Ghana, has joined the global community in commemorating World Breastfeeding Week, and proposed the establishment of sustainable support systems to empower mothers to breastfeed safely and successfully across all settings.
Marked annually during the first week of August, World Breastfeeding Week, serves as a global platform to promote breastfeeding as a cornerstone of child survival, growth, and lifelong health.
This year’s theme: “Prioritise Breastfeeding: Create Sustainable Support Systems,” underscores the urgent need for inclusive and long-term structures that support breastfeeding in homes, communities, health facilities, and workplaces.
UNICEF Ghana, in a press statement issued in Accra, emphasized that sustainable systems must include legal frameworks, workplace policies, healthcare practices, and community engagement that ensured that no mother was left alone to navigate breastfeeding challenges.
UNICEF and the World Health Organization recommends that newborns be breastfed within the first hour of birth, and be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life without any other food or liquids.
After six months, babies should be introduced to safe and nutritionally adequate complementary foods while continuing to breastfeed up to two years or beyond.
Despite progress made, so far, UNICEF Ghana noted that there were still challenges that needed attention and redress.
Nationally, the exclusive breastfeeding rate for infants under six months had stagnated at 52.6 per cent for the past two decades.
Early initiation of breastfeeding is delayed for 41.8% of newborns, with significant disparities across regions, the statement indicated.
It said in the Greater Accra, Ahafo, and Eastern Regions, more than half of babies were not breastfed within the first hour after birth.
The statement emphasized that the median duration of exclusive breastfeeding in Ghana was 2.9 months, far below the global recommendation of six months.
“In some regions, such as Western North, the average duration is only one month, while in the Savannah region it is about 4.9 months.”
It hinted that one notable milestone in Ghana’s breastfeeding journey was the passage of Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 1667, which regulates the marketing of breastmilk substitutes.
“This law prohibits the promotion, advertising, and distribution of formula and breast milk supplements, including bottles, teats, and pacifiers in health facilities. It also bans the provision of free samples to healthcare workers. The law reinforces the national recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and continued breastfeeding alongside complementary foods up to two years or beyond.”
The statement added that “To further enhance enforcement, the Food and Drugs Authority has introduced a QR Code system that allows the public to report violations of the law, thereby promoting accountability and citizen participation.”
UNICEF Ghana, in the statement reiterated its commitment to supporting the Government of Ghana in ensuring that mothers received the help they needed, whenever and wherever they need it, including building the capacity of health professionals to offer skilled, empathetic counselling throughout a mother’s breastfeeding journey.
The statement advocated workplace policies that respects and protects a woman’s right to breastfeed and strengthening community support networks that provides consistent and accessible assistance.
It stressed that when those elements; healthcare, workplace, and community support, work in harmony, they create a strong safety net for mothers and babies.
UNICEF Ghana called on all relevant actors to ensure adequate funding to support breastfeeding programmes, protect breastfeeding from commercial influence by fully implementing the Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes in all health facilities, strengthen breastfeeding support within health institutions, and build stronger community structures that provided continuous support to breastfeeding mothers.
UNICEF is the world’s leading child rights organization, operating in over 190 countries and territories to protect and promote the rights of every child.
Its work focuses on ensuring children everywhere could grow up healthy, educated, and protected.
GNA
Edited by Eric K. Amoh/Lydia Kukua Asamoah