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From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has Borno State to create a sustainable support system for nursing mothers to ensure exclusive and successful breastfeeding.
UNICEF Chief of Maiduguri Field Office, Mr Francis Butichi made the call yesterday in Maiduguri in an address at the flag-off of the World Breastfeeding Week.
He said that the protracted insurgency in Borno and some North East states heightened the need for a support system for mothers breastfeeding their babies.
“The use of breast-milk substitutes and unsafe water in our communities can pose serious risks to the health of infants,” he said.
According to him, “It is critical that the state enacts, enforces and monitors the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes to protect children and promote breastfeeding.”
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Butichi maintained that mothers need sustainable support systems to exclusively and successfully breastfeed babies at homes, works and in the communities.
He said such a support system would help in providing counselling, peer encouragement and consistent health advice during pregnancy, delivery and post-natal care.
He also called on the Borno government to strengthen maternity protection policy implementing six months of paid maternity leave in the public sector.
The World Breastfeeding Week is marked annually from August 1 to 7 to sensitise the people about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding.
UNICEF said this year’s theme, ‘Prioritise Breastfeeding: Create Sustainable Support Systems,’ highlights the urgent need to prioritise actions and systems, leading to equitable access to breastfeeding, especially for vulnerable women in rural and conflict-affected areas.
